17+ in the Framework of OtherJewish Languages 3 Sepharad; here the direct object is yiddish and Ashkenaz, not The Language of the Wuy of the vis-i-vis Sepharad. We now approach the Way of the SHaS in Ashkenaz, which is sociolinguistic and psychological basis of the yiddish language. C parison with other culrure areas, including Sepharad, *ill iow"be , only the as need arises in the course orpresintation. Zarfat will be d in a bit more, for with respect to curture areazarfatand Loter-Ashken are very close to each other. 3.r Without communal separateness there is no separate language; the rise of Ashkenaz was the precondition for the rise of Yiddish. iSmall groups of immigrants become absorbed after a generation or two the mass of the surrounding population (r. r ), and thereby also lose ,their own language. All told, the Ashkenazim were merely tiny specks ;scattered over large areas of the non-Jewish world. Then how, we must tnquire, has Ashkenaz become more than " in " ? , Up to the eighteenth century this was not called in question, neither the Jews themselves nor among their neighbors. The Jews had lbeen a separate community from time immemorial, and so they were a separate community in the German lands, not merely a sum of :individuals. The first to ponder the historical causes ofJewish indepen- idence were Jewish publicists at the end of the eighteenth century. lHistorians in the capacity of publicists came after them in the first half the nineteenth century with much more weight . Zunz, greatest of the ish scholars of that period, still drank of the waters ofFrench rational- ism, and strong haces of that influence can still be detected also in the German-centered Jewish scholarship (2. r3. r). When the political anations of the French Revolution enabledJews in central to demand emancipation, the constraint to live in separate streets must rhave stood out as the clearest sign of denial of rights. Those demanding ,rights began to use the word ghetto with that emotional coloring which ,it had up to the Hitler period. They formulated the theory heard to this day: In the Middle Ages theJews were locked in the ghetto and ilhus excluded from society at large and its intellectual development;in Ithis forced isolation, both their mode of life in general and their language 'in particular became corrupted. : Graetz maintained (2.28) that the exclusion began with the First 'Crusade. And since up to that period intellectual development among ans was slight, Ashkenazic Jews therefore never had any share in medieval culture of Germany. Other Jewish scholars were of the ,opinion that long ago (up to the thirteenth century, and possibly even ilater) Jews in the German lands had been members of society at large, ,had dressed like the Germans, had spoken German, and had even t76 The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS t77 produced-in the beginning of the thirteenth century-a minnesinger 3.I.1 Frcm the thirteenth century on, the condition of Jews in in German, Suesskind von Trimberg; but later they were driven into y begins to deteriorate. New restrictions are enacted concerning the ghe tto and were isolated politically, economically, and linguistically. purchase of property, concerning trade; Jews are forced to don The necessity of grantingJews equal rights was also deduced from a of specific design (theJewish hat, the yellow badge, and so on). quasi-historical comparison with the problem of the ghetto. Le t the newly established mendicant orders, who stressed Christian reli- sun of tolerance arise anew and the Jews will again become Germans i ity and the Christianization of the infidels, helped fan the flames of culture and will differ from their fellow citizens only in religion. toward the Jews. Blood libels were on the increase. Living Perhaps one should not be too severe with those who use historical itions also changed for the worse. Not only did the optional become fictions because of a legitimate politicai aim. But it would be too naive pulsory-hence, from our present point of view, the fact became a toacceptthefictionsofapasttimeashistoricalreality' -but the facts themselves changed. Earlier some Jews had lived In medieval we hear of massacres, expulsion, evil Christians, and conversely sometimes Christians had lived in decrees and false accusations, extortions, and so 9n-[11 can there be Jewish streets. The houses had been essentially the same, of the same found even one author before the eighteenth century who complained' ilding material and the residential area laid out according to the that Jews were "ousted from society"? There is no such author plan; here and there Jews had constructed larger cellars as there cannot be, for up to the period of the Emancipation the Jews ruses. Jewish homes had been conspicuous by the mequqot on the wanted to be by themselves. Compulsory residence areas began in the Later on Jews had to live apart in an area assigned once and for thirteenth century, following the Lateran Council of r2r5;as far back' , and could leave their residential areas only in daytime. The greater as the eleventh century, special Jewish streets have been recorded in Jewish population, the greater the congestion in comparison to the Worms, Mainz, Cologne, Regensburg, Speyer, and other places-and settlement in "the place," and the more difficult it became to it may be safely said that theJews dwelled apart ever since they settled the minimum hygienic requirements. But this does not concern in the cities of Loter. present question; namely, what historical forces created the culture Separate residence (strange as this may appear in the light of present Ashkenaz. Under conditions of spiritual poverty, compulsory resi- Jewish and general conceptions of rights) was part of the privileges together from the thirteenth century on could have brought granted the Jews at their own request. Jews wanted to be a t a spiritual decline, and even in a community that so highly themselves so as to be able to worship collectively, study collectively, spiritual values in spite ofphysical-political reality the conges- have their own rabbinical court-let alone the necessity ol having could have become a handicap and not an asset; at any rate it slaughterhouse and bathhouse and a cemetery of their own. not have been the primary creative factor. GermanJewish architect-historian Pinthus studied the topography of a" It is characteristic that up to the Emancipation the Jews of central hundred medieval towns in Germany and in the countries bordering on' knew absolutely nothing of the Italian word ghetto, it to the east and found that where Jews had appeared early, that is; ther in its derogatory or in its factual sense. The accepted name was when the cities had still been in the process of construction, the Jewish street (in western Yiddish, the Jews' street) and thus to this day Jewish streets were always in the center, near the main church Yiddish expression on the Jewish street means 'among Jews'. Quite market-well located from the economic point of view. Jews were cit uently the expression was simply lhe street, and it was understood to dwellers;Jewish landownership, even when still permissible, played along with mokem (the [non-Jewish] town). Between the two parts minor role; and for occupations in the city-export and import, w city was a partition, but there was also constant communication. sale and retail trade, currency exchange-it was important to be as e must not be deluded by the fact that the Germans in World War II close as possible to the center of the city. Where Jews came to fu the term ghetto for those areas in which they herded the Jews developed cities they settled near the city walls or behind them. G extermination; theJewish residential districts in the Middle Ages settlement-religious, ethnic, social-was common practice in medi places for liuing.) Eliezer ben Yoel Halevi (b. f rr4o) cities and even much later; hence the togetherness ofJews was no more y described the situation in the cities of Loter: "We live among than natural. There are established cases where Jews requested a 'Jews, and servants and maids and also men constantly opportunity of dwelling apart, for thus they could better p into our houses." themselves against attacks. Apartness, but not segregation (in other words, distinctness but not r78 The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS r79 separation)-the Ashkenazic reality must be sought between these two We must therefore recognize without hesitation that the Jewish extreme points. This can be attested in beliefs and customs, in legends communal institutions have played a role in bolstering Jewish distinc- and songs, in literary production; examples will come up unexpectedly' tiveness (just as the areal separation contributed its share). But on But the balance between yes and no is perhaps best seen in the social reflection we must conclude that sellgovernment must not be portrayed phenomenon that interests us here directly-the Yiddish language. After as the basis of Jewish existence. Cause and effect should rather be all theJews came to Loter with western Loez and southern Loez speech. conceived of inversely: Jews have established communal institutions But the non-Jewish population in Loter spoke regional variants of because they wanted to preserve themselves as an entity. The factor German, and of this German determinant such a conspicuous part of autonomy should therefore be reduced to the proper proportions. entered into the new language of Ashkenaz. This is proof of a high The autonomous institutions have been supportive ofJewish existence, degree of contact. On the other hand the Jewish arrivals in Loter did forin the life of a community there are functions exceeding the powers not become ordinary German speakers, but fused the German element of an individual. Voluntary associations for study and charity have taken over with the Hebrew and Loez elements brought with them; played a considerable role, probably not everywhere to the same extent. this again is proofofa high degree ofindependence. And in an emergency, we know, even a sole (a bar-lisroel [son of 3.r.2 Together with the theory of the ghetto, sometimes intertwined ] as older Yiddish had it) can observe Jewishness; witness the with it, we encounter the idea that Jewish distinctiveness was created' Jewish villagers and country hawkers close to our times. It may be said and preserved by the community autonomy. It is a well-known fact that that the true nucleus of Ashkenazic society was neither the community whereverJews resided, also outside Ashkenaz and long before Ashkenaz;.1 nor the voluntary association, but the family. they had certain rights of self-government, and in the preserved chartem' 3.2 No: the concepts of ghetto and juridical segregation cannot help this is always mentioned explicitly. Such a procedure of delegating us plumb the characteristics of traditional Ashkenazic society just as rights was applied to the inhabitants of the growing central European, the concept of assimilation (3.2.r) cannot explain to us the cause of cities, to merchants and artisans and others, and also to theJews. When Jewish association with the milieu. We shall not arrive at greater clarity theJews became the emperor's serui camerae in the eleventh and twelfth of conception by modern slogans;we must endeavor to grasp the social centuries, that is, directly taken under tutelage of the emperor, condition of theJews in the Middle Ages in the context of that time and became even more conspicuous among the other burghers. TheJewishr its ideas. All men knew then that might is right, and Jews had con- community had its own organs (president, administrator, warden,' firmation of this in the : kol dealim geoar (whoever is in power member, and so on are pre-Ashkenazic terms) , with jurisdiction in civil dominates) . But Jews also knew that they were in exile and destined cases (bezfdln [court]), recognized without hesitation by the ex to suffer. They never thought ofhaving a say in the governance of the powers and with responsibility for charity and educational facilities. state; that the building could not be higher than the church The community also had supervision over the institutions, some ofi building was deemed natural. Insults were like the sting of an annoying which were found only in the larger places: prayer house (or houses) ; fly, persecutions like the bite of a snake. Evil decrees and massacres cemetery; bathhouse; poorhouse; slaughterhouse; bakery; dance hall; lvere regarded as natural catastrophes, ineluctable unless God's help where weddings took place. In addition they had administrat came at the last minute. Such help was in the nature of a miracle. There obligations and rights: collecting state taxes fromJews, levying their were the righteous among the , but even they could not be taxes for internalJewish needs, and (in certain places) admitting outsi ielied on too much. One can become accustomed to such a condition Jews into the community (e.r3.r). There were even attemPts to precariousness and in the intervals be tween one visitation of wrath supralocal autonomous organs: Several councils that comprised and the other live "normally": attend to business, study, raise children. only the celebrated Loter communities of Speyer, Worms, and M also differentiated in those days between worse and better years, but also the communities of Zarfat were convoked in the twelfth a iind since the demands were not too high, conditions were mostly toler- thirteenth centuries. ilble. Contacts with the non-Jewish milieu were severed only momen- Jews have always considered it wrong to involve the "Third y, at the time of calamity. The very fact that the Church had to the outside authorities-in internal Jewish controversies, and iterate its prohibition of relations with the Jews and threaten trans- 's munity saw to it that this should not happen. The informer was with dire penalties is the best proof that such relations continued ; as a scoundrel. itions have a basis in reality. Even the introduction of the yellow The Language of the Way of the SHaS rBr I Bo The Language of the Wav of the SHaS badge was motivated by the argument that lacking such a mark of tian legends aboutJewish boys that accompanied their friends to church and there learned the truth of we may conclude that distinction Jews would mingle with Christians. Of course, not allJews had the same degree of contact with the out- Jewish and Christian children played together frequently. side world; hence the influence of coterritorial German on Yiddish was We can understand the prohibitions; and we realize that they did not not the same among all strata ofJews. It is the task of the sociologist to help much, for they were constantly renewed. Surely there were more establish, on the basis of the concrete material, a gradation of diverse cases of apostasy, but there were also cases of proselytism. Just as apos- tates informed non-Jews about life (sometimes correctly and Jewish strata with respect to distance between the Jewish and non' Jewish sometimes falsely), so proselytes acquainted with the life of non- Jewish community. Jewish physicians, for instance, were frequent Jews visitors in the homes of non-Jews; their comPetence was appreciated Jews. As a curiosity, mention should be made of the proselyte (apparent- also by Christians. Up to about the fourteenth centuryJews and Chris- ly a former monk) who dedicated himself to the study of the tian customers met in the marketplace (later on the market in many and the sages of Speyer permitted him to use the Vulgate for the ex- planation words. Christian theologians who wanted to have places was closed to the Jews and they had to wait till the customer of the came into their street) . Those engaged in money lending dealt largely recourse to the Bible in the original had to have the assistance ofJews; with non-Jewish clients, and surely those engaged in foreign trade, both only toward the end of the fifteenth century did the humanists begin entrepreneurs and employees, moved freely outside the Jewish street. to establish a direct approach to Hebrew. This the materials of Loter-Ashkenaz The Sefer hasidim (first half of the thirteenth century) speaks of partner' picture is presented here with ships with Christians and of Christians employed byJews. Noteworthy to characterize the rise of the Yiddish community in Loter and its sub- sequent development in Ashkenaz In our analysis of the Slavic deter- is the fact that foreign trade gave Ashkenazic Jews direct contact with I. distant lands, independent of the coterritorial non-Jewish population; minant (l .Sg-l .SS.z) it will be seen that in Ashkenaz IIJews had at least as many levels the non-Jewish milieu. on the contrary,Jews were frequently the importers of culture Patterns' contact with and assuredly also of language patterns, from distant lands. The scholars, The term contact leuels is not used fortuitously here. Coterritorial does the Ashkenazic elite (3.5), were probably most removed from the non' not mean contact at a border line, not even a contact zone, but a con- tact area-the entire area of Ashkenaz (which in the period of Middle Jewish world, and this also must have had linguistic consequences; but it must not be thought that there were no exceptions among the scholars' Yiddish extended from Amsterdam to the Dnieper) was in contact with We know definitely that some of the celebrities (for example, Rabbi the coterritorial non-Jewish surroundings. Hence there could not have Eliezer son of Nathan, Eliezer son of Isaac of Prague, MaHaRIL, been that separateness that the advocates of the "ghetto" theory have Iserlin) were engaged in commerce; hence we are sure of their contacts postulated and that is still presented as the distinctive feature of tradi- witb the non-Jewish world. tional Jewish society. This false idea must be demolished; there are so The lower, sometimes half or more than half declassed strata that many proven facts of close association between the Jewish and non- drifted from place to place, maintained a broad contact level; these Jewish community in Ashkenazic tradition that we cannot cite more were unsuccessful students, inferior cantors and singers-actors, than examples in the following paragraphs (3.2.r ff.). But there was a pekhotne magidim (itinerant preachers; the term comes from eastern dislincliueness (S.g tr ), and this must be borne in mind. Europe but surely the species existed also in Ashkenaz I), and ordinary Since Yiddish speakers and German speakers constantly met, they poor people. On the roads and in the inns these wanderers met with each had to know the other's language. Yiddish loanwords in German non-Jewish wanderers of similar social caliber, and they exchanged are recorded in writing as early as the fifteenth century. Among the a experiences, superstitions, ideas, and language. minority, whose position was precarious, there came into being The above quotation from Rabbi Eliezer son of Joel Halevi (3.r) specific linguistic style which we may designate as Tehudi belol (Jew, beware) qal shomea uos der orl (Hebrew) ia magid (Hebrew) clarifies that a large part of the contact was through Christian wet : (Hebrew) (listen to the is saying) had of cours€ less a chance of nurses, maids, and servants inJewish homes. The Church sharply con' what Gentile of being understood-up to a time!-than the similar-meaning her uos der demned Christian service in Jewish homes for fear of being weaned go7 (Hebrew) ! from the faith. Jewish books, on the other hand, are apprehensive of zogt cannot be Christian servants lest they fabricate blood libels against their employ- 3.2.r Under close relations between two comrRunities, it said that one side should be constantly the donor and the other con- ers, and the authorities would be inclined to believe them. From Chris' tB2 The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS I83 stantly the recipient. When we encounter, for example, among Ger- influences in proverbs, idioms, songs, legends, riddles, and the like. The mans in the region of Treves (that is, in the heart of Loter) a marriage same applies also to beliefs, superstitions, and incantations. Let us not be formula similar to the hare al (behold, thou), or when we find the in- misled by the opinion of someJewish scholars that superstitions came to cantation Agla widespread in the magic of Christians in Germany, Jews only from the outside, for theJews were monotheists. as a there is no doubt that the Jews were the donors. The ritual of the system is one thing and the breaches in what is called "folk religion" Jewish marriage dates from the days of the Mishna. AGLA is an acronym are something altogether different. We may presume that since the of atah gibor leoLam adonal (fhou art mighty forever, O Lord) . In the Jews were indeed a minority (and not a prestige-bearing minority in case of ehad milodea (who knows one?) there is quite strong evidence the sense that one would seek to imitate it openly) the influence of non- that the Hebrew song was older than the prototype of the various Jews on Jews was greater than the reverse. On the other hand, the versions in Latin, German, and other languages. On the other hand, specific gravity ofJews was certainly greater than their proportion in in the case of other folksongs or certain gleeman poems we may be sure the population. The Jewish intellectual elite had no illusions on rhe that these were adopted by theJews from their German neighbors. The score of Jewish susceptibility to external influences. Purely matter-of- Book of the Pious explicitly mentions the fact that Jews learned book- fact contacts arising from business relations or neighboring residence binding from monks. There we also learn that Jews and Christians were accepted as ineluctable, if not approvingly. Toward the end of the taught each other religious melodies-a clear testimony of contem- twelfth century a Regensburg scholar maintained that it was not wrong poraries that the influences were mutual. It is not always possible to for aJew to go bird hunting, and around r4oo the MaHaRIL stated determine even roughly who borrowed from whom, and at times the that horse races were permissible "for this was no celebration, but the question must be left open. The practice ofimmersion for ritual purifica- acquisition of an art." That is, someJews even approved ofsuch "Gentile tion is old and found in many religions, but the concrete custom of delight." lashlikh on the first day of Rosh Hashanah apparently came from the This need occasion no surprise. By now we know that no other culture outside. Kreplekh () are eaten amongJews on Purinr, the eve development in a community is at all conceivable and that in its of Yom Kippur, Hoshanah Rabbah. This seems to be a deeply en- derivation every culture formation is a compromise formation. Essen- trenched Jewish custom, but Catholics in western Germany eat dump- tially the Ashkenazic scholars knew this too, although they did not Iings on fast days. The casting of Hanukkah tops and excursions into the express it in terms of modern culture morphology (2.3). The Book of open on Lag b'Omer are very similar to certain customs among non-Jews the Pious, over which the personality ofJudah the Pious hovers, declares in Germany in olden days. One must never decide who borrowed from unequivocally: "As the behavior of the non-Jews so is the behavior of whom on the basis of external indications. On the first eve of Rosh the Jews in most places. For instance, where the non-Jews are lax in Hashanah (mern) arc eaten in Ashkenaz II, linked with the sexual matters, theJews born in that town will be similarly so." Gentile homonym mern (multiply), and the prayer "May our merits multiply." ways may easily deflect one from theJewish way, the proper path, and that In Ashkenaz I it was a firm custom to eat cabbage (in German, Kohl) is the reason they were feared: it is indeed difficult to maintain equili- with water on Hoshanah Rabbah, for a prayer for that day begins with brium when walking a tightrope. But it must be said thar the traditional the Hebrew words ,tol meaaser (a voice announcing) . The associations books discuss this subject to a much lesser extent than, say, the modern seem soJewish that at first one cannot even conceive of borrowing from nationalist writers, who are constantly on guard lest "assimilation" outside. A comparative analysis, however, leads to the conclusion that creep in. We must conclude that traditional Ashkenaz was not so much only Kaul mil aaser (cabbage with water) originated in theJewish milieu dominated by the negative approach ofself-segregation as by the positive and thence radiated to non-Jews. The reverse is probably true in the approach of Jewishness. case of carrots on Rosh Hashanah. 3.2.2 The relative ease in relations with the surroundings, in trans- If it is at all possible to fathom the origins in such cases, it is only mitting its own cultural possessions and adapting alien ones, Ashkenaz through detailed studies; we must forget the preconceived opinions of inherited from earlier formations. The process begins investigators of a previous generation; namely, that similarity is indica- as early as in biblical times (2.Sff.), and becomes conspicuous in the tive of Jewish borrowing from the surroundings, since Jews were a times of the Mishna and the . The Gemara abounds in outside minority. Assuredly (and there is more evidence for it than for the influences, but the focus is an internal one: the sages of the Talmud above) the non-Jewish neighbors were at all times susceptible toJewish addressed themselves toJews; they sought no motivations for the sake tB+ The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of rhe Way of the SHaS rB5 of Gentiles (s.6. r This is truly the ). way of the SHas. The very language der gute Samaritaner (the good Samaritan; cf. Luke ro) is a sympathetic of the holy Gemara came originally to the Jews from outside, together figure in German (as well as in every other "Christian" language), but with a wealth of other culture patterns peisians, that came from the "der guter shomroyni" (Yiddish, the good Samaritan) or hashomroni hatou Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. (Hebrew, the good Samaritan) would be an absurdity. But the .,OId In the last centuries of antiquity, when christianity already dominated Testament" is indeed identical with the Bible. Then why do we cite in the occident, contacts between Jews and their neighbors continued. Yiddish, when someone longs for the petty pleasures of the years of The contacts led to the adoption of culture patterns and the adoptions slavery, 4kharnu et hadagah asher akhalnu bemi4alim hinam (We remember among both Jews and among christians were transmitted by oral the fish, which we were wont to eat in Egypt for nought [Numbers r r : 5] ), tradition to later generations-but already through separate channels, and in German the parallel saying speaks of remembering die Fteischtdpfe as parts of theJewish (or, among non-Jews, of the non-Jewish) heritage. Agptens (Egyptian fleshpots)? Why do we say in Yiddish oltsgisn di This has to be borne in mind when we find in medieval Latin literarure lolkhekhe (invoke curses of Deuteronomic vigor; cf. Leviticus 26, Deu- of Germany complete analogies to such expressions as "in seventh teronomy z8) and in German, with a much lesser emotional charge, heaven" or "recorded in golden letters" or to such details of literary die Leuiten lesen (read the charge of the , based on Deuteronomy etiquette as "my humble self" ,.I or "in my humble opinion,' or am z7: tQ? Why is Tilim the designation for the Book of Psalms-otherwise not out to introduce innovations." we will come to no understanding the designation is a chapter of the Psalms-whereas in German psalter if we ask: Have the taken this from the Jews Germans or the Germans means the Book of Psalms and Psalm a chapter in that book? These and from theJews. The answer is neither; both language communities have similar questions lose their validity when we realize that the Jewish received it as a legacy, and the entire problem of taking over must be Bible tradition passed through the traditional chain of , Talmud, thrust back several centuries. At times we are amazed, by the similarities: , and exegetes, and the German biblical language draws directly We had a Simon the Great, they had an Albertus Magnus (but here we on the Vulgate. The root is the same indeed, but the intervening stages also note the great difference;such title was not conferred amongJews were different; hence the outgrowth is different. for wars and conquests, as for example Carolus Magnus ICharlemagne]), 3.3 It must be borne in mind that traditional AshkenazicJewishness To the name Meor hagola (Luminary of the ) the non_Jews was not "general" German life plus a number of specificJewish supple- have an equivalent lumen ecclesiaa (Luminary of the church) . The very mentary traits, but a distinct sphere of life, a culture system (z.zl). symbol ofJewish tradirion, the golden chain, is found in a Middle Latin Jews could not separate themselves from Christians, nor did they always rtem aurea catena. think very much about this possibility; but they fought shy of Chris- For Ashkenaz there did not even arise the question if this was not, tianity with might and main. "You have chosen us from amidst all the God forbid, going in the ways of the Gentiles. EverythingJews possessed nation," to paraphrase Tertullian's formulation (z.r5.r). lived up to Ashkenaz came Jews to the Ashkenazim as Jewish prepossession, and among Gentiles, but not with them. what one didn't know didn't hurt him : that,(aphenath-paneahcomes from In the manner of worshipping God the separation was, of course, Egyptian, pardes (orchard) from Persian, sefla (.,the ten spheres,') from absolute. TheJewish alphabet was the attribute ofJewishness; Gentiles Greek, or dux from Latin. Similarly, christians did not ponder over the used galkhes (Latin, the language of the priests). The name is to be derivation of the words cadesa (Hebrew kedesha [harlot]) and mam4r explained thus: in the Middle Ages the art of writing among non-Jews (bastard) they appear in the ; Vulgate, and that was enough. was almost the exclusive possession of the clerics, and this was done The fact of separate channels clarifies why there can be differences chiefly in Latin (4.2.r). In the Hebrew sources the language of the between and non-Jews even in the Jews case of those linguistic items clerics was once designated neutrally by the name l(a)tin, but more that at first seem as if they should be identicar in their structure. we frequently "the Christian language," and at times even ,,the language can understand that there are not too many idioms and sayings in ofimpurity." The aversion for the language of the clerics was transferred Yiddish that have come into the "christian" languages, including to their script. In the Middle Ages a se2fer post (a flawed book) was any German, from the New Testament. a similar In -urr.r.., we will not book in non-Jewish characters. The aversion went so far that up to the expect to find in German echoes of the Talmud and Midrash. Therefore Emancipation hardly a Jew knew the non-Jewish alphabet; even in Yiddish has no equivalenr Germ of the an Judas tzrsr (kiss of Judas, non-Jewish official documentsJews signed theirJewish names inJewish friendly pretense of a traitor) , or the dreissi[ siberringe (Matthei.v z6). characters. Therefore the are not Pharisiier (hypocrites; cf. Luke rB) and The most important thing was the feeling of a separate community, The 186 The Language of the Way of the SHaS Language of the Way of the SHaS I87 was remains for him for the world to come." Confession-to be sure not rn no matter whether the difference extended to all de tails. Jewishness attern lor the present procedure-is mentioned even in the Pentateuch. (The of the rms interweaving ofJewish and non-Jewish elements in the mourning ritual It in r the will be discussed below; 9.3.2,3.4.) The great Isaac Abarbanel the Ashkenazim se of t ouP Sephardi Don criticized ior ordaining their in the manner that the non-Jews conferred of builders named after St. Andrew; the architecture of the women's the title doctor, and various scholars actually maintain that in synagogue added on in rzr3 manifests a similari Jewish ordination there is a degree of imitation. But the Ashkenazic scholars Martin's church adjacent to the Jewish Street' The built toward the end of the eleventh century, is in could not be impressed with this argument;decisive with them was the be lact that both the terrns semikhuta, semikha and the idea thereof go its decorations ol the local cathedral. Another series of lacts can back to the Talmud. cited from book adornments. In the well-known worms manuscript of There surely were mass incorporations and attempts increase the maha4r of tzTz (t':.t) there are illustrations that modern Jews' to similarity, but the distinction as such was never obliterated. Frequently less secure in themselves, would be reluctant to include in a sacred book: there were differences of opinion among the authorities on the line of not only the coat of arms of the city of Worms, but gement demarcation (3.8 but a distance was maintained and we have of towers and animals, copied from the outside d Martin 3,8.2), to come to the conclusion that in the separation ofJewishness from non- church. The Mishne Torai,* of Cologne, of 1295, ssession the essential thing is not the location of the Iine of demarcation, of the Budapest Academy of science, Iinks up via its marvelously colored Jewishness but thefact of a demarcation. Moreover, the impression is illustrations of animals with the art then popular in France and England, gained-both which reached the Germans in the Rhineland a little later. Similarly concerning the mode of life and the language of Ashkenaz-that quite olten the distance between and non-Jewish established the tie between various other illustrated Hebrew books and the non- Jewish is not so much by the difference of all the ingredients, as by the difference in combining the ingredients and in reacting to them. Since the totality of Christianity was forbidden and separated, it no longer mattered that so many ingredients were similar (S.6. I ). Eve n in building and decorat- ing the synagogue it did not matter that foreign motifs were introduced. pretation of the sentence lt not make unto thee a graven Thus there came into being inJewish culture in an independent manner i-ug., nor any manner o In such a vicinage it apparently the compromise patterns, which are characteristic of each culture. did not matter that the a of towers and animals was taken 3.3.r The separation between the Jewish and non-Jewish commu- nities had to have its linguistic reflection. Considering the determinants, over from a church door. They have it and we can also have it' stood the which provided the components of Yiddish (r.B), we note at once the Essentially, between Jewishness and non-Jewis great difference between them. Hebrew was a language lehaudl (to be distinguished). A contemporary a st coming Jewish from from the outside will have to assert that both Jews and time immemorial; therelore it can be said that the determinant Hebrew was the bearer of Germans help the poor, visit the sick, recite a Prayer with the moribund, non-Christianity from time immemorial. Both Hebrew at and Yiddish are non-Christian pray for the soul of the deceased. The medieval inner observers, who languages or, speaking positively, lan- hrri glu.,.. should have been most scrupulous, are indifferent to the guages ofJewishness. Similarly, western Loez and southern Loez, Old among lhem' French, and Old Italian were Christian languages, but their fact that Jewish customs approach closely those prevalent Jewish is correlates are not. A difference between the German determinant and among c"hristians. For the Jewish observers are interested in what the other must have r,app."rri.,g amongJews. charity is aJewish trait; "charity delivereth determinanls set in during the formative period of Yiddish. The coterritorial language Loter-Ashkenaz, t o* aeutn,,' is an explicit statement in Proverbs. The Talmud includes in German, was aChristian visiting rhe sick together with five other things among the good deeds language and, using a metaphor, it may be said thatJews "the fruits of which a man enjoys in this world, while the principal have set up a special guard against such German-component items that have specific Christian meanings or connotations. Such Christian words and expressions * ' compcndium ol'Jewish laws. that no Christian language IBB The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language ol the Way of the SHaS IBg

can dispense with, but thatJews had no need for, were simply ignored; mention the following at random: shkhine (divine presence), ganeydn for example, apostle, original sin, purgatory, Mother of God, heathen, (paradise), gehenim (hell), kafakela (limbo), oylem hatoyhu (the world of Holy Ghost, Host, sacrament, spiritual salvation, paternoster, and so chaos), ollem haae (this world) , ollem habe (the world to come),)e)tser toa times on. At Christian words can approachJewish words in meaningl (the good inclination) , )e)tser hore (the evil inclinati on) , malekh (ange l) , for instance, Easter and Pesah, but they are by no means direct equiva- kadik (saint), roria (sinner). To these words and expressions which evoke lents, whereas Oslern, Paques, Easter, Wielkanoc in German, French, metaphysical associations must be added a host of designations of what English, and Polish are really translations. may be called concepts ofconcreteJewishness, such as shul and belsakneses This non-Christianity is one of the criteria of the selectivity of Yiddish (synagogue), besrnedresh (House of Study) , klolz and shtibl (conventicle) vis-d-vis the determinants, and foremost vis-ir-vis the German deter- (the latter two being rather recent items of eastern Yiddish) , orn-koldesh minant (8.3;see also z.z5) . (sacred ark) , poroykhes (curtain over the ark), relnike1l (scroll of the least From the point of view of the Yiddish speaker there can be at Torah), belemer (pulpit), omed (lectern), shtot (p.*) , shtender (stand) ; three categories of Christian words: (r) Words that he does not need, lidishn (circumcise), bris (mile) (circumcision), b armitsae (bar ), These are associated with details of Christian dogma or ritual, which lnoim (engagement), khasene (wedding), orn (pray),-or in eastern Jews seldom discuss; for instance, Passion, Last Supper. The place of Yiddish daa(e)nen (pray)-shaktris (morning), minkhe (afternoon) , and these words in a dictionary of Old Yiddish simply remains blank. (z) mayriu (evening prayer) , tfle (prayer), tkhine (penitential prayer) , muse.;f Words that the Jew did need, for the concept concerned him-for (supplementary prayer), sider (prayer book), makhzer (holiday prayer instance, Host-but whose negative affective charge was so powerful book), kidesh (prayer over wine issuing the Sabbath and festivals) , that it was impossible to simply make use of the words at hand in the haudole (prayer over wine at the conclusion of the Sabbath and festivals), German determinant; consequently pejorative terms were created seyder ( festive meal), suke (tabernacle), hakofes (procession with (S.S.S) Only in the modern period, when the emotional attitude to the Torah scrolls), mo1dim (prayer of "thanks"), krishme (recitation of the other religions paled, at least in part of the community (3.r4ff.), has Shema-('Hear, O Israel"), piet (liturgic poem) ; reshkhoydesh (new a new series of neutral words entered Yiddish. We can now say in moon) and the names of all holidays and their appurtenances; mezu

I t occurs for the first time in the Ashken azic Sefer hasidim in t!r'e thirteenth in which ti"fle occurs several times, one instance gives food for thought. century, and tife with the same meaning is still younger, the oldest Within five lines (p. 6t) we are told that the queen had to gotothe tife known instance is in the Cambridge Yiddish Ms. (r.3.I), dated r3Bz. and then that she had to go to the kirkhn, without the slightest distinction Nor are there any instances outside Ashkenaz, either in Hebrew or in in meaning, or even in nuance. Tife in this text is the designation for a the immediateJewish languages, for khoge (Christian holiday) . In the Christian place of worship, just as metshel (mosque) is for a Moham- Bible (Isaiah rg:I7) the word means 'terror'; the oldest instance ol medan, and that is all. If for example, we were told that there was today's Yiddish meaning is found in the writings of the MaHaRIL in anti-Jewish agitation in the church, the word tife would. have a definitely Mainz-Worms around t4oo. negative emotional charge. We can now sense a difference in the patte rn of lehaadL Loshen (differen- Another illustration. "Shkotsim have thrown rocks" must call forth in tiation language). In the case of shelgels (shekea) we have found cross' the hearer a more intensive negative emotion than "theJewish villager's translation. In such derogations as fokerl (

(their misfortune) . situation and the linguistic context. All in all, among very large parts of The psychological background of this entire category of linguistic the community the entire category of differentiation language is now items is far from simple. The basic principle is apparently that of no longer in vogue, except for special purposes of stylization. In the conspicuous change; it is all a matter of the proper context. Even in the traditional sector, however, and (up to the split) in the still integral domain of Jewishness proper, differences must be maintained; for traditional society there were also countless nuances in the connotations instance, between the weekdays and the Sabbath, the Sabbath and the of the differentiation language, depending on the object, subject, and festivals (3.5). This is surely so in the case of the differenceJews - non- mood of the subject at the time of speaking or writing. However, it is a Jews. It begins with partition. "Theirs" is different from "ours." And basic fact of the language that it has a differentiation language. since "ours" is a priori better than "theirs," there is in the word that 3.4 Since Hebrew is the oldest linguistic garb of Jewishness and ro designates "theirs" always an element of derogation or disparagement: alarge extent has also later maintained this function (4.r-4.26), it is either in the earlier content of the word that was endowed with a new quite natural that in the illustrations of the Jewishness lexicon the contentual charge (for instance, shekel [detestation] > shelgets fnon- Hebrew component is so strongly represented. It is apparently so clear. Jewish ladl) or in the very fact of deformation (khaslere, for instance, Bread was eaten by both Jews and non-Jews, hence Yiddish could take means nothing by itself, but it is a recognizable deformation of khasene 'over from the German determinant bro2t (bread; cf. MHG br6t); but and hence not respectable). However, since the difference between hallahhad to be set aside only amongJews;therefore the word is from "ours" and "theirs" is expressed in two different words, the words the Hebrew component. Ultimately the word came to be applied to the within "their" domain can vary in their affective coloration-from white bread eaten on the Sabbath and festivals. Similarly rimen (strap; bitterness to quasi neutrality. In the aforementioned Cambridge Ms', ct MHG rieme), but retsue of the phylacteries; kayn (chew; cf. MHG r96 The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of tbe Way of the SHaS r97 kiuwen) meser (knife), bur khalef; auntik (Sunday), (porging) meat is not an inferior matter because lre2bern is of a Slavic mnntik on, but shabes (Sabbath)' But we have also t (Z.SS.r). The large, many-branched Sabbath candelabrum seen w onent in the domain of Jewishness (bentshn is called sha'bashnik, and the word was apparently so widespread in pre-electricity days that Polish has taken it over. it The distance between Yiddish and German (that is, between the language of the Jewish and the Christian communities) appears most clearly precisely in those cases where the difference is not on the surface, that is, in those words and phrases that are etymologically of the German component but do not exist in German in the meanings under concern. Yiddish reyn (clean) and German rein are very close, but German has no lexicon from the beginning, but in the older the reynike/ (a scroll of the Torah) for this or any similar object; reinkeit in MHG synonym "braltleJt is widespread, which has a medieval German ancestorr meant only 'cleanliness'. Opgisn negl-uaser (ritual hand washing) cf. MHG briltlouft. we can also cite many such phrases as iberaen (check) consists of lexical elements derived exclusively from the German deter- festive minant, but the sum is only Yiddish; in German a phrase like d.i mezuzes ; oprikhtn (or prauen) (conduct) dem selder (the Passover Nligelwasser abgiessen would meal) ; qogn tilim (recite psalms) ; ayngebn, aynhe2bn (put back), o2she2bn simply be unintelligible. Trinkuasar (drinking water) can (take out) a sqtfer-toye (a scroll of the Torah); leynen krishme (recite the be, as seen in German Trinkwasser, simultaneously in two systems, in Yiddish and negl-uaser Shema) ; makhn a brokhe (pronounce a benediction); lelgn tfLn (ptton in German; is only Yiddish. Montik (Monday) the phylacteries) ; and the like, where Hebrew-component elements and donershtik (Thursday), as seen above, are, in contrast to shabes, from have merged with German-component ones. By way of contrast we the nonholy sphere, but they became coholy in the phrase ale montik may even cite instan xpressed in Hebrew- un donershtik (very frequently) because rhese are rhe days in which the component words. I helollem and ribolnt- full tahnun (supplication) is recited. dealme-kule and, hashem h hu, b:ut also gol and There are a group of German-component words for Jewishness concepts der elbershter (the Above) (3.3'I)-all designations for God; but khazu that cannot be translated even into Hebrew; they can only be a describe d : uakhnakht (the (pig) is the only word in Yiddish unless we add douer-akher, again night before the circu mcision ) , uokhe dik (worka- day) milkhik (dairy) kuater (godfather) (of meat) Hebrew t a He , , ,feyhik , farfastn (ro eat word) e (trade before a fast), opfastn (break a fast), and so on. Three of them, all very from th impo old, are worth dicussing. (idle). Di ershte teg (the first days) and di andere teg (the last days) of The ceremony of /ho:lekra:S/ is not found in Ashkenaz II either in Passover and Tabernacles are holier than khaLemo2ed (the intermediate substance or in name, but it is documented in western and southern Ashkenaz days) . However strange it may be,Tidishkeltl (Jewishness) is a general I since the fourteenth century and survived to the Hitler period; among Yiddish word and laades is only regional-among Polish Jews in the refugees from those places it has even survived World War IL It is the act of naming a form of /ya:ndes/; in addition the word has no specific Jewishness child. On the Sabbath when the confined meaning; it means 'conscience'. woman goes to the synagogue, for the first time, in the afternoon children The truth of the matter is that the problem of components is very im- ol neighboring families gather in the room of the confined. They lift the portant in analyzing the phonemic, grammatical, and lexical character crib with the infant three times and exclaim three times in succession : ylaaitn as a fusion language (r.B-r.9.r, B I B.r3), but is apparently "HoLekrelsh, how is the child to be named?" Then they shout the name "f second in importance in examining the systematized conceptual areas, that was given to the child. (The details are omitted here.) In contrast In analyzing the area ofJewishness the fact comes to the fore that all to various etymological hypotheses, we may assume in certainty that components are subjected to the Jewishness needs of the Ashkenazic lwlekreyh is a compound, where the second element is krelsh (shout) and community. All means also the Slavic component: prauen (conduct) dem Holeisthe name of a pre-Christian Germanic mythological creature still known today among as se\der isjust as Jewish as oprikhtn dem selder, and Jewish rapture can Germans Frau Holle in the vestiges of popular break out in the practically entirely Slavic-component lterusholalim, belief and in fairy tales. Today holekre2sh is aJewish children's festival, Trelbern but in the Middle Ages, when it began, it was a magic act of undoing lterusholalim, gorod slauni (, Jerusalem, glorious city)' I98 The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way ol the SHaS r99 the harm that Hole can inflict on the newborn. The Jews learned the it had support in "precedents." Not only is there a special tractate on fear of her from the Germans and projected into her many traits of inourning (its characteristically euphemistic name is Semahot [rejoicing]), Lilith, but the Jews themselves originated this prevention ceremony' but the Bible tells thatJoseph declared a seven-day period of mourning and together with it the designation. Two roots of the German deter' for his father and thatJews mourned thirty days for Moses. The innova- minant combined to form a specific Yiddish word that German does not tions could base themselves on such detailed facts to legitimize the mselves know and the other determinants certainly not. by means of a practice offormer generations (:.6. r ). The term "memerbukh Even more piquant is the western Yiddish word min(e)ki, which is (the ancestor of the first part of the compound is MEMOR [remember]) used to this day among some German Jews for that which in eastern was very popular in Ashkenaz I for centuries to designate the book in Yiddish is called pareae (neither dairy nor meat). Here we have no which the data of the memorial services were recorded; non-Jews had neologism, but a retranslation. The progenitor of the word is the Greek no such term; it is apparently part of the Loez carry-over. On the other mdnachos (monk) ; in Yiddish, however, it was taken over from the hand, the medieval German practice of mourning had many traits that MHG form mi)nich (this old form, instead of the NHG Mi)nch, has been never reached the Jews, so that there was at any rate a conspicuous preserved in the geographic name Miinchen [the monks' city]). Whence distinction. We again arrive at the conclusion that a pattern (or a set the strange leap from 'monk' to'pareu(e)'? In MHG milnich also had a of patterns) that we find in a community, and the same also among humorous meaning, 'castrated horse', that is, a horse that is neither male Jews, is an agreement formation (3.3) between the indigenous and rhe nor female; from this, probably, the Jews took the meaning 'neither alien, only the alien too became indigenous because it assumed signifi- dairy nor meat'. Yiddish here proceeded not from a concrete to a cance in theJewish community and enrered the Jewish scale of values. me taphorical meaning, but quite the contrary, from a metaphorical to a 3.5 It is misleading to use the term religion for traditionalJewishness. concrete one. But concerning the problem ofJewishness: It did not When we say religion the implication is that there is a sphere in life matter that miinich designated a clearly Christian concePt, as long as beyond the boundary of religion. But in Jewishness there is no such delimitation. Jews had no minkhn 'monks'. Natural science, law, philosophy, art, literature-all derive 3.4.r Quite puzzling is the term-.2ortsa1tt in the domain of mourning from divine relations. There are gradations of sanctity (3.g), but all (S.S.t). Not only does it derive from the German comPonent, but from nooks of life are sacred-some more, some less. Besides the distinction medieval German church terminology. Jarfitis the German equivalent between Jew and non-Jew (S.S-:.S.S) there are other haudole.i (differ- of Latin anniuersartum, and it means'anniversary (in general) , anniverl' entiations) , internal ones. We have a good illustration for this. In the sary of death'. Modern German dictionaries, if they include Jahraeit; kidesh (benediction over wine) recited on a festival that occurs on a characterize it as obsoiete, no longer in use. In Yiddish hobn 2orlsalt Sabbath night, we see why the term haadoles in plural is used. We thank ("uen hot ir lortsall ?" ["when do you observe the anniversary?"]) is a God lor distinguishing between Israel and the nations; but we also firm combination. Yortsa2l is so well established in the domain of thank him for distinguishing between the seventh day and the six work mourning (together with kadish Imourner's prayer], memerbukh [memo- days (here the expression makhn hailole came to be specified), between rial book], slile [seven days of mourning] , shloyhim fthirty days of the holiness of the Sabbath and the holine ss of the festival. The benedic- mourning]), that it has passed over to other communities and even the tion begins with "He who distinguishes between the sacred and the Yiddish word was adopted by Bulgarian Dzhudezmo speakers and by profane" and ends with "He who distinguishes between the sacred and Italian and Bukharan Jews. The question therefore arises: how didJews the sacred." The difference berween shabesdik (of the Sabbath) and take over a patently Christian word at a time when its Christian con' ttokhedik (workaday) is enormous; the sanctity of the Sabbath is primary, notations were still fully alive? Again, kitl (white Iinen robe, from the it is mentioned in the Ten Commandments. (Incidentally the German- German component) and sargenes (from the Loez component) were component adjective aokhedik was created within the boundary of useded together with the Hebrew-component takhrikhimtakhrzkhtm (shrouds). ! Yiddish, for the needs of the Jewish communitv; it does not exist in the The surprise is still greater when we realize that shiue and shLo2shin;: n determinant, MHG woche(n)lich,NHG wiichentlich means 'week- although from the Hebrew determinant, are very strongly reminiscenf ly'.) But there is also the distinction berween shabesdik andynteudik (of of the corresponding church terms septima : sibende and tricesima =i the festivals), between di ershte teg (the first days) and di andere teg (the dri3igeste, and that in the pre-Ashkenazic tradition the institutions Iast days), between ynteu (the festivals) and khalemoled (intermediary shiae and shloyhim are not familiar. But the new could take easily days), and so on. The kholtdesh (month) is linked with reshkholtdesh (new 2oo The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS 2ot moon) and with mekadesh (or nzekhadesh

culture-system ofJewishness; there are de tails, but no trifles. Therefore were never recorded in writing. Particularly rich is the collection of traditionalJewishness is not religion and its language is not necessarily German words for the Jewish cemetery. If judenkirchhof or juden urithof the language of religion, unless we say that all of lile is religion. Even are mere specifications of general designations, judensant, judengarte, map the geographic ofJewishness is unique. Ashkenaz II is seemingly are more original. Underlying the Magdebwg Judenkiewer is identical with eastern Europe, but Vilna, thanks to the Gaon, the undoubtedly the Yiddish keluer (grave) . Yiddish linguistics would like Maskilim of the nineteenth century, and thc builders of Yiddish of the to see a Ge rmanist gather all designations for Jewish objects, customs, twentieth century, will have to figure on the map in larger letters than and concepts in MHG texts. Much could be learned by comparing Vilnius, Viljn'a, Wilno on a non-Jewish map. Lisa, Kotsk, Ger, Valo- them with the relevant Yiddish words and with words from the domain zhin, () Mir must be on everyJewish cultural-historical map; they Christianity that Jews used in Yiddish. are places too small to figure on a "general" map. Khelem and Linsk Occasionally, German writers praised Jews (be it indirectly) for their have no interest for us as real cities Chelm and Lesko, but as the homes ol thoderation and chastity. More olten-as can be surmised-Jews were Jewish simpletons. Hotseplots and Bo2berik have real non-Jewish equiva- ridiculed for their peculiarity: there were descriptions of pranks played lents in Silesia and eastern Galicia, but among Yiddish speakers they on them by urchins; sometimes descriptions of the sufferings inflicted are places in the world of fantasy. them broke through. In many respects the Jewish community was Ashkenazic Jewishness, the Way of the SHaS (3.6.t ), is a view of life ived of as a miniature analogy to the general society; where a and a way of life ; incorporated in this system are the designations for ishop was at the head of the city, the head of the Jewish community human relations and actions. There is nothing bizarre about this. We was called judenbischof; in othe r places the term wasjudenmeisle r, analogous have here a particular case of the general rule that the vocabulary and lo burgermeister. Ultimately, however, the place that Jews occupied in idioms of a language reflect the specific conditions of the community; world view of the non-Jewish Middle Ages derived not only from We may reasonably expect more references to the sea and navigation factual condition, added thereunto even the envy that the well- among the Dutch than among the Swiss. of someJews aroused. Theological interpretation played no less It may be said thatJewishness takes the way of religion only with the role, and probably a larger one; and only both factors together provide arrival of the Emancipation (ro.z). For the secular sector the largest opportunity of grasping the picture in its totality. part of Iife became neutralized, for the intermediate sectors, Iarge par$ WhenJews began to settle in Loter, Christianity had not as yet been of life ; and has the traditionalist sector remained completely untouched' blished too long in that area, but the theologians had at their dis- by secularization ? But up to the Emancipation Ashkenaz did not operate' not only the contemporary or the recently experienced reality; in terms of religion and world; the culture system of Jewishness ara.r, could draw on the age-long tradition of the Church. In the me- world. This very day we see the reflection ofJewishness in the Yiddish ieval non-Jewish declarations aboutJews, elements of observation con- language. ntly mingle with elements of stereotype . The mere thought of the 3.5.2 The character ofJewish particularity in the Middle Ages a ight of the Church is sufficient to make clear how the stereotype itself up to the Emancipation can be still better grasped by examining i me a part of the reality. Not only was there no "separation of reflection in the minds of the coterritorial non-Jewish population. As a urch and State" but had someone uttered the phrase it would have rule, the social-psychological position of a minority is determined meaningless. two sets of factors: how the minority regards itself and how it is rega llr'The world was divided into Christians, Jews, and pagans. The pagan by its neighbors. Even when the separateJews'street was already com-i deemed utterly worthless, but even toward the Jew the Christian pulsory, Christians had free access to it, and they saw mezuzahs on t have had feelings of superiority. Je ws were accurse d ; they crucified doorposts, sukes, matlos, theJewish manner of slaughtering. They ist, they still reject Christ. Their claim to being the chosen people how Jews pray and how they talk among themselves. A number no more than idle conceit. The true bearer of world history is the designations for Jewish objects have been preserved in MHG tex Christianum (the Christian community) . The pariah position of such as (spelling standardized her e) judensc huo le (synagogue), judenpi) goes back to biblical times. The Church, the representative of the (ritual bathhouse) (Pl-ililt< is a loanword lrom the Latin puteus [well]); faith, had existed invisibly even beforeJesus was born. The Chris- louberdt (Tabernacles), mat4 or masantqe, lrffint (nonkosher), and so on community can take pride in King , King Solomon, the we can be sure that many more words of this kind that Christians ts;it wasJews who worshipped the golden calf. The revelation 204 The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS 205

of the Church came with the birth ofJesus; thereby the Old and the In turbulent times there was no doubt in Christian minds thatJews New Testament became one; theJews were left out. ed the wells, conspired with the Mongols, denounced the Chris- The view ofJews as rejected by God is most vividly expressed in the ians in Babylonia to the caliph. TheJews paid in blood; but when the medieval symbolic representations of Church and Synagogue found in itement subsided and the Jews were seen again, the uncanniness church reliefs, illustrations of manuscripts, and literary descriptions, became even greater. It was one of the factors that made the distance The Church (ecclesia) is represented as a majestic, triumphdnt womani the Jewish community and non-Jewish community a per- leaning on a cross with one hand and brandishing a mighty sword in t one. the other. The adjacent woman, the Synagogue (s2nagoga), stands with i There was one means of bridging the distance at the disposal of the downcast and uncovered head, leaning on a wanderer's staff. Jews ; in contrast to the ineluctability ofJewish fate under the German persist in their erroneous ways because the Talmud muddles their brain. facist regime of the twentienth century, the Jew could stop being an Therefore, they are "the false," "the infidels," "the disloyal," " outsider by apostasy, Had all Jews chosen this remedy there would enemies of Christ," and so on. have been an end to the Jewish community. But there were Jews in Not only was there a clash between the workaday neighborly re generation that refused to take this way although considerable and the dogma, but there was a kind of contradiction in the theoreti ing and pressure were exerted. The self-maintenance powers within approach of Christian theology to Jews. Let us recall thzit the mod Jewish group were apparently greater. Herein lies the secret as to definition of Middle Ages dates from no earlier than the sevent there is a at all. century and that the medieval scholars themselves had a different de- : 3.6 The symbolic opposition of Church-Synagogue was highly ap- limitation. 'Io them the first period in world history was from Ada iate for the Christian world. The church was the highest edifice to the first advent of Christ; the new era, the final, will begin with each neighborhood; there statues and paintings dominated; there second appearance of Christ on earth. Between these points there is a the saints were interred. In the church the Christian religion showed its kind of twilight, the middle age (medium aeuum). But in this "midd th manifestly, and this was as good as proof in those days of almost age"Jews are a necessary element; there is a purpose to their existence,. universal illiteracy. The opposition of Church-Synagogue did not reach As long as Jews are scattered among the nations Christ will not Jews; the symbolism did not speak to them. If one were to think of a second time (this is why Christian thinkers even as late as the time a symbolic opposition of Judaism and Christianity in terms of Jewish Sabbetai Zevi, and certainly earlier, were so enthusiastic about ptions, then it must be the book versts statue and. painting. "messiahs" that appeared among theJews and promised to gather them; Although they had no statues, the Jews did have some form of pic- again in the ) , and the Holy Scriptures in Hebrew testify, torial art. There were no figures of humans in the synagogue, but other that Christians had not invented the prophecies concerning Chrr although scant in number, did exist. Manuscripts of the Bible found in the Latin Old Testament. The says the same. , the Talmud were not illustrated, but prayers and Passover Hag- These theological notions, the product of generations of "metaph ahs were decorated with pictures. Then again Christians, too, had ical" alienation, cast their reflection into the workaday neighborly sacred books. But the proportion in the two communities was entirely business relations with Jews on the part of a non-Jew. To the non; different; and the stress was primarily different. Mohammed lumped Jews were a part of his world; but a bizarre part. Even in comparati and Christians in one common contemptuous designation, "people peaceful years theJewish neighbor must have been enveloped in a kind of the book," because they adhere to the Bible and the New Testament. of weirdness.Jews do not want to eat with Christians, will not taste designation did not stick to the Christians, and amongJews "peo- wine touched by Christians-a sign of disgust, of contempt. But this rs of the book" came to be a term of acclaim, for in the crystallized not all. Jews come and go up and down the land-are they not i ewish conception all later writings are merely derivations of the Book conspiracy with the enemies of the Christian world? The ofBooks, the Bible. have to do with witchcraft;Jewish communal prayers are reminisc ,, Every way of life must identify itself with something, that is, derive of the howling of witches gathered in desolate places. Doubtless t its pedigree and justification from somewhere. Judaism based itself pri- devil incitesJews to pierce the host, symbolizing thereby their pierci marily on the book, and this led to very specific methods in transmitting the body of Christ; the devil incites them to use (from time to time the culture from one generation to the other and in making the adoles- regularly?) Christian blood in the . Cent individual a member of the community. To be sure, there is no 206 The Language olthe Way of the SHaS The Language ol the Way of the SHaS 2o7 comparison between seeing and hearing, but for statue and picture to Jewish generations, not adopted from the non-Jewish ambience. Hakol be effective, one has to g0 tosee it and has to want to see it. Besides they 'keminhag hamedinah (all according to the custom of the place) does not can only suggest thoughts and feelings. A book is movable. A book can mean 'see what the Gentiles are doing and do likewise', but 'when you be studied, that is, contantly reviewed; thereby the content can be tome to a strange place, do as the local Jews are doing'. (We have here Occasionally books have been confiscated better clarified and absorbed. 'a sanction of variants in Jewishness itself; 3.9 tr ) by the adversary. But theJews knew that even when books are burned One walks on an iron bridge when he can cite an "as is written." it is only the parchment that goes up in smoke, the letters remain intact. But in case there is no unequivocal answer to the question "where is When the RABiYaH (first half of the thirteenth century) wanted to this written?" one must ascertain the age-old Jewish custom. A custom apologize for not answering a ritual question addressed to him promptly,. introduced by a scholar is retained in deference to him, and certainly he wrote-without explanation, it was self-evident-that he did not a custom followed by a number of eminent men. The Talmud fre- have at hand "the weapons," the books. A manuscript prior to the quently stresses the immutability of a custom. The Gaon Hai wrote in invention of print was a considerable possession. Around r too, when a one of his responsa that we have to conduct ourselves the way the house could be purchased for eight to ten marks, an unvocalized Pen- eminent men of old in their wisdom conducted themselves and not tateuch cost one mark, and a vocalized one three marks. Two relatives change one iota. states that "aJewish custom is law," and adds went to court over a book left by a Mainz martyr after the First Crusade, that precisely in times of persecution one must be ready to suffer mart- When printing was invenled, it was regarded as a sacred occupation) yrdom for a custom. The ReMA (d. r57z) warned against annulling for it provided an opportunity for bringing the Torah to a larger number or ridiculing a custom for all customs are duly motivated. (Indeed of stude nts; compositors sign haosek bimlekhet hakodesh (he who is engaged scholars have taken great pains in their quest for the motives of the in a sacred occupation). customs, just as in connection with the motives of the precepts.) Such 3.6. r Book versus picture and statue is the hallmark ofJewishness in statements can be cited from practically every generation. By means general, but Ashkenaz occupies a specific place. It began in the Hellen- of vertical legitimation the golden chain is forged: Ashkenaz is built istic period, that is, before the Destruction of the . At on the legacy of the Gaonim, and the Gaonim in turn on the Talmud. various times there were among Jews those who wanted to present The Talmud-otherwise known as the SHaS-is the point of departure : Judaism in accord with an external model: in accord with Plato or it is one with the Written Law that Moses received on Mt. Sinai. In a Aristotlc, in accord with rationalism, Kantianism, liberalism, Ameri- natural manner Abraham Our Father merges with the prayer "God canism. There is a great distance between the diverse systems with ol Abraham," the Sacrifice of Isaac becomes the theme of a which it was sought to reconcile Judaism, and the intellectual caliber play, Moses figures in thc designation Molshe Rabeyne's kiek (,ladybug), of the reconcilers also varied. But this much they all had in common. King David becomes the hero of the medieval Yiddish Shmuel-bukh. They took their scale of values from the contemporary non-Jewish am- Therefore one is not alraid of repetition;one is not in search of origi- bience. Such a procedure may be designated ltori

Many scholars, distinguished and of lesser eminence, collected the r 3.7 The function carried out by the books in traditional Ashkenaz questions sent to them and their answers into volumes. Thus there" iryould have been impossible had thcy been read the way books are read arose the responsa genre, the beginnings ofwhich can be traced in the itow. Books, then, were studied, and studl was the backbone of Ashkenaz. Talmud. In the course of time hundreds of volumes of responsa concept lernen (sttdy) is so specific that it is untranslatable into a into being; in some of them, at any rate, the questions and answers hristian" language (g.g.r). English "to study," for example, is a mere literary device to express problems of Halakah in the form unsuited, for in study there will come a time when the student has concrete illustrations. ted his studies and graduates. The "eternal student" in occidental In retrospect we realize what a remarkable tool the Halakah societies is a tragicomic figure. But lernen is a lifelong activity. The scholar of various types were for the maintenance olthe continuity of theJew a taLmid-khokhem (literally a disciple of the sage)-a student he is and community without a centralized hierarchy and final authority at lemains. And the maximum of lernen is desirable. "Thou shalt meditate top. Simultaneously we have here an imposing monument of unceasi therein day and night" (Joshua r:B) is usually only the ideal, but now adjustment to constantly changing times. know how powerful the ideal norm is in determining the character 3.6.4 We have seen above (3.2 ff.) that in the course of developm a culture. The scholars were the prestige group, and they received Ashkenaz continously adopted elements of external patterns and merl re,cognition everywhere in the Jewish world. Their acclaim was not them into the system ofJewishness. Thus it was in Loter-Ashkenaz from inerely local. the very beginning. Who else understood as well as Rabbi Ge "' Whateve. the society that is studied, the investigator will at once the Luminary of the Exile (I.e), the fact that Loter was not the Orient. inquire about the channels through which its patterns of conduct and He was even versed in the civil law of the contemporary non-Jewish ideal norms are transmitted to the young generation. The various milieu, and in his response he took surrounding conditions into stages-the khelder (elementary school), the leshiaa, the kha4r-bokher consideration. But this is only a matter of fact; his real concern wasl (repeater) , the lernenfar zikh (independent study)-were standardized, securing the authentic, the continuous, and there is something extreme but not petrified. We do not have as yet the great work presenting the moving in the fact that Ashkenazic legend has incorporated into t methods of study in all communities of Ashkenaz since the Middle Ages, meager details of Rabbi Gershom's life this one, namely that the n we do have it, we shall find that attention was paid not only to Hai was his teacher. the method of study, such as literal interpretation or dialectics, but also Rabbi Gershom's great concern was to obtain correct texts of t fo gesticulation, swaying, studying seated or standing. The Gemara Mishna and the Gemara. These he needed for the yeshiva that he had chant, consisting oiseveral logically definable variants, is hallowed by established; the in Babylonia were too far away and past ther tradition, perhaps no Iess than the cantillation of the Bible;we cannot zenith; the yeshivas in surely could no longer provide preclude the possibility that the Gemara chant also dates from pre- ship; and Rabbi Gershom knew that only through schools can a ,{shkenazic times. bling tradition be formulated anew and take root. He succeeded: t Nor is this all. In Ashkenaz the educational machinery was identified Rashi was a disciple of his disciples, and Rashi's grandsons, RaSHBa with the very backbone of the society, with study. God, Israel, and the and Rabenu Tam, became the first among the Tosafists. Torah are one (kudsha brikh hu,/srael aeoralta had hu). AmongJews study Once continuity was secure, Rabbi Gershom could decre e monogamy, is not only the transmitting machinery, but is in itsellan expression of and although the decree was in blatant contradiction to the biblical piety. When a child is taken for the first time to khe2der it is wrapped in practice, the ROSH some four hundred years Iater could declare th a prayer shawl. Children who died prematurely, we are told, are Rabbi Gershom's enactments were observed as if they had been gi instructed in paradise by God himself. Therefore the difference between on Mt. Sinai. ish life and theirs was so immense. Charlemagne invited scholars to Rabbi Gershom was a classical "verticalist." He did not call his court, but he himse lf was illiterate; and he was not the only medieval an adjustment to the spirit of the time, but he endeavored to ruler lacking the rudiments of knowledge. Wolfram von Eschenbach in the changed time a maximum of culture elements of earlier days. and Walther von der Vogelweide, the two ornaments of MHG poetry, this not appear as a semantic quibble, for in both instances the eould not write at all, or just barely. Up to most recent times literacy combines with the old. The intention is decisive. Vertical legitimation in the agrarian society of Poland-Lithuania was no greater than that. in theory made it possible in practice for Loter-Ashkenaz to emancipate Among such neighbors the word amorets (literally, people of the land) itself from Babylonia and Palestine. was one of the grievous derogations in the Ashkenazic community, and The Language ol the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS 2t3

so it had been already in the Talmud. On a voluntary basis, without r The linguistic effect of the study material was immense. Each thought, state support, Jews established a system of public education, and gach sentiment that aspires to expression via words seeks an appropriate practically every child went to khelder. (The word khe2der itself received . And here hundreds of patterns were at hand in an easily quotable in Ashkenaz, that is, in Yiddish, its specific meaning ofschool.) Through version (a.3). All the scholar has to do is put out his hand, and a system of scholarships-then it was called esn teg (eatins days; actually samples them liberally. the un-German character of this idiom, whose elements are of the We shall see how the growth of learning in Ashkenaz as a result of German component)-thousands of poor young men in each generation the Babylonian renaissance (7.13.r) had to bring about an increase in filled the yeshivas, the institutions of higher Jewish learning. 0rem lhe Hebrew component in the Old Yiddish period. Here too the law bokher (a needy student), yshiue-bokher, and sometimes just bokher interchangeability (7.26.2) was operative. the designation for the candidate-scholar. Through the preachers; ' 3.8 The illustrations strewn throughout this chapter indicate that through the kheure mishnales (association for the study of the Mishna) words, phrases, sayings, proverbs from the most diverse areas of life were and the kheure e2n-Tankeu (association lor the study of EzTaakou,legends streaming into the language lrom the pious books. The imagery of these of the Talmud) learning permeated major strata of the common peopler books was alive in the student. The picture of the determinants is already Among non-Jews too newlyweds were given wedding gifts, but clear. The Way of the SHaS comprises all areas of life, and all deter- bridegroom did not have to deliver a droshe (sermon) ; hence there could ininants contributed to the language of the Way of the SHaS. But since not have been a designation such as droshe-geshank (literally, sermon the Way of the ShaS is so closely bound up with Hebrew, it is natural present) . Non-Jews also had kesl (board for newlyweds), but it was a that in those areas directly concerned with the traditional elements in purely economic arrangement, not meant to enable the young man to the culture the Hebrew component should be especially notable. continue his studies, free from worry over a livelihood. Later on, when i Upon what sources in the Hebrew determinant did Yiddish draw? In the young husband had to become independent, the wife often became first place we are concerned here with the language of the Talmud the breadwinner, so that her husband could study undisturbed. .in the widest sense, that is, Mishna, Gemara, Midrash, commentarics, And one did not study practical subjects: knowledge of merchandise; iodes, and the like. Since the Talmud is based on the Bible, we will computation of interest, bookkeeping. Whatever was connected with establish a second category: Bible language. A third category should be the mundane world was somehow acquired through practice. Only added:prayer language, which is to be found not only inthe sidurand what was concerned with life eternal was a subject of study. One delved' inthe maha

The difference between the approaches of Yehoash and Spivak; ttingly), gabe (warden), gulme (exaggeration), gaslen (robber), gpltre Pereferkovitch, and Shtif, and the approach advanced in this cha il decree) , dugme (example), daletames (four cubits) , dan (aay) lekaJ- should be striking. They were interested in Hebraisms, that is, in the (give the benefit of the doubt), hakhnoses-orkhiz (hospitality), component aspect, the existence of Hebrew-component words (God grant) , haLokhe (Jewish law), hanoe (pleasure), heJker expressions. To add another illustration to the previous: A phrase ned, ownerle ss), hegde sh (poorhouse), uelt s het (gullet), khaLemoyed as kumen tsu oleltnu was within their field of vision: Oleynu (upon us [it termediary days between the first two and last two days of Passover is incumbentl), a prayer concluding the service, derives from Hebrewl Sukkoth), khokhmanis (clever woman), tipesh (fool), tirkhe (trouble), but kumen tsu oltsshpayen (arrive at the spitting) does not figure in ther lozr (error), Tiesh (despair),1asher-ko1e*[ (thanks), ltisurim (suffering), list, for all three words in the phrase are of German component. I hiLakheryad (carelessly) , loyda2 (not enough that), lignq (adversely), kumen tsu oysshpalen, insofar as external form is concerned, is not fusion loue (in the future), leponem (for appearance 's sake) , lifnim mishuras language (r.g) but, bearing in mind the means of expression of the in (beyond the call of duty), maldem (adept), magemase (dealings), of the SHaS, both phrases are identical in meaning. At a certain pl eyse (with pleasure), malbele (coin), mamesh (literally), mesires-nefesh in Oleynu the worshipper spits out; hence both phrases mean the rifice) , moes (money), mesles (twenty-four hours), (a gantser) mar thing: to arrive at the very end. rel ashi (bigwig) , mashmoes (probably), mase-matn (transaction), nikhe In the following material, the problems of the sources of the :(agreeable), sakone (danger), agmesnefesl (aggravation), oluerbotl (senile); of the Way of the SHaS is collated. The purpose is merely to su -yoytse (result), puron2es (affiiction), p oshe-ltisroel (impiousJew), pinkes certain preliminary conclusions, not to present all aspects of the prob ister), prute (penny) , partsef (face), kaluekho2mer (afortiori argument), Given the present state of research we have not yet arrived at that point,l ( amulet), kftses- hadereki (shortcut), katsef (butcher), ragzn (irasci- 3.8.r In considering the language of the Way of the SHaS the most ble), reshus (authority), shie-pie (from hand to mouth), shoue-kesef (pay- logical thing is to begin with the SHaS, that is, the language of t in kind) , shum (without), shtus (folly) , shibesh (trifle), shem-hamfo2- Talmud, in the above-defined broader sense. A linguistically nai (the ineffable name of God), tkhies-hameltsim (resurrection), tarumes person among modern secularist Jews may be inclined to brand somer (complaints). of the lexical items as non-Yiddish, simply because he doesn't understand, " The inventory of our category becomes much richer when we include them. Deduct the emotional rebuff and there remains the formulation, -and how can we avoid it-the sayings and complete proverbs that that the sociocultural stratification of the speakers must not be over-r ars took from their books and which then spilled over in part into looked. For certain strata of Yiddish speakers some of these items have, the language of the public at large. For instance , odem koreu lealsmoy part' already become archaic. But in the first place archaisms are also (man is nearest to himself) ; auiro deretsTisroel makhkim (the air of Palestine of the language (I.6.9), and even for a social stratum, even for an renders wise); akhren akhren khouiu (last is best); ey oyekh makhnis oyrekh individual, an archaism is not condemned to be such once and for all; (a guest cannot show hospitality); ey meuiin raye min hasho2tim (a fool the boundaries of incomprehensibility, of passive comprehensibility, and is no proof) ; eyn mall Le2isroel (Jews have no luck) ; eyno do2me shmi2e active usage shift. On the contrary, surprise should be occasioned by lieile (you cannot compare hearing to seeing) ; al todin es khaueyrkhe ad fact that so many lexical units from this source are alive in the mouths, the thetagia limkoymo (do not judge your fellow until you are in his position) ; ofJcws that have never looked into a folio of the Talmud. The sociolin-, al tifroyh min hatsiber (do not separate from the community) ; im e1n ani guistic significance of this will be discussed below (3. I5). li mi li (if I am not for myself, who will be?); im e1n kemakh e)n tr)re Here is an additional list to those occurring before : auer (bad odor),' (where no material means are available, no study is possible) ; im keltn akhrales (responsibilit y), akhs any e (inn), androlgene s (hermaphrodite),t e1n Ladouor sof (if so, there is no end to the thing) ; beshoo shehi lo1 y1m istenis (fasridious)', apetroper (guardian) , apikoyes (heretic), apo/ike (large' uehy Laylo (at a time that is neither day nor night) ; duorim ha2o/sim min fortune) orkheporkhe (vagrants), ashmeday (prince demons), Dagril haLeya , of nikhnosim el haley (words that come from the hearr enter the heart) ; (adolescent female), 6nr (illiterate), botL beshishirn (diluted beyond recog-' lakhkime birmize (a hint to the wise is sufficient) ; dine demalkhuse dine belnashmoshes (twilight), benta2im (meanwhile) balshn (bashful)'r (the nition) , , law of the state is law) ; ho beho taQe (one depends on the orher) ; bemeyzid (deliberately), balkorkhe (perforce), balkhal (living being),r lud2ot koyfets berosh (the ignorant rushes to the fore) ; haltem kan umokher baltshuue (penitent), bifresye (openly), barmitsue (bar mitsvah), barmetsre. bakeyer (here today and in the grave tomorrow) ; hamo/si mekhaue2roy (neighbor's right of preemption) , barsamkhe (authority) , besholgeg (un-' oloa horaye (the claimant must produce evidence) ; ze nehene ue4 lolt khoser 216 The Language ol the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS 2t7

(one benefits and the other does not lose ) ; khakhomim hizoharu bediare.ykhen In the examples in 3.8.r, compounds such as baltshuue or (wise men, be careful with your words) ; khosn do2me Leme2lekh (a bri are classified as Gemara Ianguage and not Bible language, groom is likened unto a king); to2u talmud toyre im derekh-erets (good r singly the roots are to be found in the Bible. The criterion for the study of the Torah along with a practical occupation) ;/r.rA must be the fact that as wholes these words appear in ollomol beshoo akhas (there are some who acquire the world in one hour) iting no earlier than the postbiblical period. We shall apply the same kabdelthu uekhoshdelthu (honor him and suspect him); kol dealim iterion, of course, to the cases where the words of the Bible and (might is right) ; kol hakoydem zo2khe (first come first served) ; kol ha the Gemara are similar. The Bible has bishegagafi (in error) or asefuh kule al regel akhes (all the Torah [while standing] on one foot) ; ,tol ring), but our besholtgeg and asife are postbiblical variants. Other khaueyim (all Israel are united in one fellowship) ; kol 2isroeL areluim pairs are /ira (dwelling, from the Talmud) and, maon. The Bible has boae (all Israel are responsible for one another); kolu kol hakitsin (as 'inakheou (pain), the Talmud uses 2isurim; Yiddish does nor know of last resort) ; kesd aezohoa metaher mam4ltrim (silver and gold legitimize makheoa. The Talmud has nedunya (dowry) , and this is the form in western bastards) ; lolt hoyu duorim meo2lom (just as frequently in the acronym Yiddish to date; the biblical mohar is unknown in Yiddish. The Bible LoHaDaM, it never happened) ; lo2 miduushokh aelol meiktsokh (neit has yre elohim (God-fearing) but Yiddish uses the talmudic version your honey nor your sting) ; lo1 roisi e2no ra2e (I have not se en is no proof ) ; im (Heaven-fearing) . ffos (cup) is used in the Bible as feminine les din ueLes dayen (there is no justice and no judge) ; ma1 dekoamri rabonon only, but in the language of the sages (n.5.4 it is masculine, and in ( what the sages said) ; mi lonu go de I ( who among us is greater) ; mis henikhnas:, ish too we say only der *os (masculine); di ko2se (feminine) is a oder marbim besimkhe (when [the month of] Adar arrives merriment retroformation within the boundaries of Yiddish: sukes - suket khales - increases) ; nikhnes2ayinltolso sod (when wine comes in, the secret c , and so on, and in the same fashion also ko2ses - ko)se. We therefore out); no2fekh misheloy (a makeweight of his own); noshim daton lude it in the inventory of Talmud language.

(women are frivolous); sadne deare khad hu (the whole world is one) ; Even when the word itself is definitely found in the Bible, but occurs aae)re gl)reres aae)re (one sin leads to another) ; o/em keminhogol, more frequently in the postbiblical era, reflection is called for before (the world goes on as usual) ; aL hatoStre ueaL hoaoolde (study and piety) ; ification. The accepted word for 'f,ast' in the Bible is 4m (inYiddish al koL tsore shelol toue (in an emergency) ; al menas lekabel pras (for the sake ingly only in hom-gedaje [fast of Gedaliah]), but the Talmud has reward) ; al rishn rishn ueal akhren akhren (in proper order); pikuakh neftsh it, and thus it is in Yiddish tones. The later word taanit found in Ezra do2khe shabes (saving of a life thrusts aside the Sabbath) ; kerelakh mikan: :5 must be classified as Late Hebrew, the literary reflection of which uekereyakh mikan (deprived of both alternatives); riboye dealme kule see in the language of the sages. Experts in Hebrew long ago dis- (Master of the whole universe); sikhes khuLin shel talmidelt khakhomin covered that the redaction of the last books of the Bible took place some

(table talk of the wise) ; sheker e1n lo raglalim (falsehood has no standing) ; hundred years before the Destruction of the Second Temple, when tofaste merube lo2 tofaste (if you take hold of a large thing, you may lose the spoken language was already Targumic or (in certain strata) Late your hold). Hebrew. In writing the attempt was made to retain the old norms, but In considering the history of individual lexical items we must not ionally a form or a word that the guardians of the "classical style" Iose sight of the fact that the Gemara material has not remained petrified, have certainly considered "unliterary" forced its way in. This in Ashkenaz: usage expanded or narrowed. New meanings were added; ins to the word mikah (taking) . It occurs once in the Bible, in such for example, aair,whichin the Talmud means'expanse , air', is in Yiddish late book as z Chronicles (lg: 7). We therefore have to say that it is a 'bad air, bad odor' (es auert). Doaer-akher (S.+) i" the Talmud mayalso talmudic word; the biblical equivalent, occurring frequently, is mehir mean 'another thing, another meaning'; in Yiddish it is only a synonym (price), a word completely unknown in Yiddish. The names of the for 'pig'. Among the yeshiva students makhn a mishenikhnas meant a irections mizrekh (east), mayreu (west), tsffi (north), and, dorem (south) prank on the New Moon of Adar when the gang seized a student a occur in the Bible, but along with other synonyms; in the language "let him have it," while singing mishenikhnas oder marbim besimkhe the Talmud, these four terms are standard, and so they are in Yiddish Puronltes rendered in Yiddish a singular form /prironje/ to designate 'a .r7.2, 2. r B. z. r ) . A further outgrowth of this is mizrekh-uant (east wall, shrewish woman'1- shibush (7.t7) in the Talmud means 'mistake', t inting in the direction of Jerusalem, rnost important place) and der

Yiddish 'trifle, of trivial value'. All these are confirmations of the disti (the fixture on the east wall for ready identification) . tive feature of the Way of SHaS, which we may characterize as variety 3.8.2 On the face of it the Bible should have occupied the first place within stability. in the Hebrew component of the language of the SHaS. Even prior to 2IB The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way ol the SHaS 2r9 the Destruction of the Second Temple Jews read the weekly lesson of rabelnu (Moses Our Teacher), Jethro, eser makes (the ten plagues), the Torah twice in Hebrew and once in Targumic (r.Z.r). But appar, Les milsralim ( the exodus from Egypt), kries-1 amsuf (the splitting of the ently even the regular reading of the Hebrew texts did not Sea), Balaam (biLem horoshe [the wicked Balaam], apparently lead to the incorporation of elements of them in Yiddish. Every Jew iated in sound with biln fto bark]), Mt. Sinai, matn tolre (the on returning from the synagogue on the Sabbath eve, sang eyhes kha ng of the Torah) , the worship of the eltgl (the golden calf) , the eating (a woman of valor; Proverbs 3 r : ro-3 r ), and it has long been the custom manna in the desert, and many others. in Ashkenaz to recite borkhe nafshi (Psalms ro4) on Sabbath afternoons As stated, much more of the Pentateuch entered Yiddish than of the in the winter season. But the first text has contributed to Yiddish only her parts of the Bible, and again in the Pentateuch Genesis seems the expression elshes khajL itself (which is also found in Proverbs rz:4) best represented. From Genesis alone more words entered Yiddish than and the second text seemingly only unlerlenen dos lrurts (to have a bite) Proverbs and Ecclesiastes combined. Here are direct adoptions as a calque (8.9) of the sentence "bread that stayeth man's heart." ' m Genesis (and this is not an exhaustive list): pru uruu (be fruitful On the other hand a large number ol moral and ethical sayings lrom hnd multiply ; r : zz), uehuyimshel bokh (and he shall rule over thee ; 3 : r 6), Ethics oJ the Fathers, which was read on Sabbath afternoons during the' apekho (in the sweat of thy face; 3:rg), hasholmer okhi ono2khi summer, entered into Yiddish. The difference probably is in the fact I my brother's keeper; 4:g),1o2shea oyl (homebody; +:2c-), pllit that the Ethics of the Fathers was studied not merely read. relirgee; r4:r3), ben-bayis (member of the household; r5 3), ad he2ne If a study should confirm this hypothesis about what could have till now; r5:l6), bris-mile (circumcision; r7:ro), haktsakose (according remained in the memory of the averageJew in olden days, then we would, to the cry of it; rB:.2t),lJer uoelfer (dust and ashes; t8:27), ma2sim asher have a very specific picture. The daily prayer book must have left, (deeds that ought not to be done; zo:g), matamim (delicacies; ,lo1 Teosu stronger traces in memory than the Sabbath prayers, and certainly \23:4), keltder (Tatar; z5:13), e/e toldes (these are the generations; stronger traces than the festival prayers. In the entire complex study in :tg), imkeltn (if so; z5:zz), halitelni (let me swallow; z5:3o), hakoL Ashkenaz much greater stress was, of course) put on the Talmud andr yankeu, ueha2odaltimledel eltsd (the voice is the voice ofJacob, but the more time devoted to it than the Bible, not for nothing have the Maski-' hands are the hands of Esau; 27:22), o/im ue2ordim (ascending and Iim, with their emphasis on the Bible, laughed at the yeshiva student' nding; zB rz), mekhabek-umenashek (41n) (embrace and kiss; who cites a biblical sentence-from the tactate Baba Kama. As a rule' :r3), berokhl bitkhe haktane (explicitly; z9:r8), hishomer Lkho pen the scholars were at all times in the minority, but conspicuous numbers' beware; 3t:24), kotolnti (I am undeserving; 32:rr), kekhol haym (as of young people studied in the Gemara-khe1der, in the yeshiva, in the sand of the sea; 3z:13), mekashe Leyled (in hard labor; 35:tG), ben- House olStudy, and independently. And what about the men who were, tzekunim (a son of old age; 97 :3), baL-kholerz (dreamer; 37 : r 9), uehayLed scholars and studied ln their free time? From this prestige group knowl- iEnenu (the child is gone; 37'.3o), bansher (just because; 3g:g), poltser edge trickled to those who knew less. This is the explanation of the fact 'kholem (aay) (interpret a dream; 4o:8), khushim (bewildered; 46:23), ascertained long ago that the Hebrew component Yiddish the in of u khatoay ani malkir ha2om (I make mention of my faults this day ; 4 r : g) , Talmud element prevails over the biblical. :ma nl)mer uma nedaber (what shall we say, and what shall we speak; l'44:r6), But in the khumesh (Pentateuch) -kheltder the Pentateuch was studied,' alpi (,according to; 45:zr), tse2de-laderekh (provisions; 45'.2r), ileloye not merely read. The weekly lections were studied (together with ther (to advantage; 5o: e). hafloye, that is, selections from the Prophets). This drilling, which was I From the other books of the Pentateuch there is much less lexical in later years reinforced by the reading of the weekly portion of ther haterial in Yiddish, and still less from the Prophets. Complete saying Bible, must have led to a possibly better memorization of the Pentateuch and formulas in their Hebrew garb have come from Proverbs and r'Ecclesiastes: than of the Talmud. The Jew grew up from childhood among the, tsdoke tatsil mimoues (righteousness delivereth from death; images, events, and places of the Pentateuch. Here are odem un kltaue 'Proverbs ro: e) ; y1kher tsadik liurokhe (the memory of the righteous shall (Adam and Eve) , der ganeltdn (the garden of Eden) , Cain and Abel,, for a blessing; Proverbs ro 7);yhaleLkho 4r aelol pikho (let another rpraise Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, /er mabl (the flood), aurom ouinu (Abraham thee and not thine own mouth; Proverbs z7:z); dor ho2lekh aedor Our Fathe r) , Lot, Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael,Jacob and Esau, .bo (one generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; di muter rokhl (Mother Rachel), ysef hatsadik (the saintly Joseph) andr iastes r :4); ryn kol khodesh takhas hashemesh (there is nothing new his brothers, mekhires yseJ (the sale of Joseph), Potiphar's wife, moyshe lunder the sun; Ecclesiastes r:g). 22t The Language ol the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS Even language material of the Bible, one takes the liberty of Then there are additional items that are not direct adoptions, but in the ying in the process of adoption into Yiddish. For instance, er i< that utilize biblical imagery (8 g S) : esnfunem elts hadaas (to eat fi beshen uealin (he emerged battered), the Hebrew words slan (tooth) the tree of knowledge); mesushelakhs Torn (Methuselah's years); aaroii altin (eye) are combined from two different sentences (Exodus ouinus eltnikle,Li (seed of Abraham); shiker (ui) Lot (as drunk as Lot) :26, z7), in which the words meet in different combinations. Da2- gefnen khe2n (to find favor);farkoyfn di bkhoyrefar a top lindzn (to sell (more than enough) is abstracted from a sentence in Exodus birthright for a pot of lentils) ; ltisres nemen (Jethro's names) ; mrysht' ;7, where dal appears with a suffix and ueholtser (and too rabeltnus kiete (ladybug); kries-Tamsuf (the splitting of the Red Sea) ; @nough) h) five words later. Olrekh (visitor) is oreah in the Bible (e Samuel shloltme hameylekhs khokhme (King Solomon's wisdom) ; ileuslisurim (Job z:4), with three vowels. In 38'.zz there appears the phrase sufferings) . Jeremiah shlomekha (thy familiar friends), but the Yiddish has anshe2-shlolt- g.8.z.t But there is no doubt that in some measure (and the size (our fellowship) . The Bible does not have the combination that the measure has yet to be determined) even the conceptions of t ish has, kine-sine (rivalry), but gam sineatam gam kineatam (their biblical heroes among Ashkenazic Jews passed through the filter of tred as well as their envy; Ecclesiastes g :6) not sholem aeshaLue (peace Talmud and Midrash. The very name odem horishn (the first man) co ; tranquility) but shalom behelek shaluah bearmenotali* (peace within from the Talmud; the Pentateuch knows only of odem. The Penta , walls and prosperity within thy palaces Psalms r zz : not ma)sim- tells us about kries-lamsuf (the splitting of the Red Sea), but staar ; 7) ; (atrocities), but maaseh-taatuim (a work of delusion; kries-lamsuf is an image of the Talmud (Pesahim rrga). Naase uemishmdl Jeremiah (we will do and obey) is in the Pentateuch' but the Talmud (Sia The attitude toward the texts is one of great piety, but it is not a BBa) pointed out that the phrase is surprising (Israel said 'we will do ishistic one. No contradiction to the demand not to yield even an before 'we will hear'). Many stories in the Bible begin with aa2ehi (and' was seen in a slight deviation. In the permanence there could be it came to pass), but uu uayhi i7 a tsore (wherever the word uastehi occurs as was above all doubt. it is indicative of calamity) was noted by the sages of the Talm too, as long the permanence ir We have now arrived at the third source from which lexical (Megitlah rob). Alngezunken ui koyekh (sunk like Korah) is based on' 3.8.3 ts for the language of the Way of the SHaS flowed into Yiddish: Numbers, chapter r6, but raykh ui koltrekh (rich like Korah) is based ori' prayers. The term here includes, as stated, all relations between the Talmud (Pesahim rrga). /Elje novi/ (Elijah the prophet) aPPears' and God expressed in words: supplications, benedictions, the Pass- in Jewish folk fantasy not in his biblical, but in postbiblical imagery.. Haggadah, the penitential prayers, devotional prayers) and so Shmuel-bukh, Mlokhim-bukh, Ma1,,se-bukh, and so on all drew from the Hence Sholom Aleichem drew liberally for the language of Tevye treasures of the Talmud and Midrash' Yiddish Dairyman. Together with study (incidentally, prayers were also The e xtent of the factor of study in shaping the character of ied in the kheyder) the prayers were the strongest link with the lexical can be seen from the tremendous role that Rashi played. In the tion of the Way of the SHaS for the average Every is khumesh mit rashi, Rashi is not a mere expositor' and the same applies Jew. Jew ted pray in the morning, afternoon, and evening. On the to Rashi on the Talmud. There are instances where the original has to is additional prayer (musef); the benedic- formulation and the public has accepted only Rashi's reformulation,' th and festivals there an were on the lips of everyJew. In part the prayers were merely an We have here a confirmation of the rule (:.6.+) that once verti iary for biblical and postbiblical thoughts and forms of ex- legitimation was accepted in principle the inviolability of "as the Bible )ression, as we have seen in the case of eyshes-khalil (3.8.2). sa s" or "as the Talmud says" was merely relative. The Talmud I Here is a random selection of this kind of lexical material: ulalerakhem (Nedarim 64b) says : " Arbaa hashuuim kemet: ani" (Four are considered asr haps he will have pity), olmer ueo2se (no sooner said than done), dead: a poor man, a leper, a blind man, and a childless man) ; but thel kikhles hakl (at the very end), ome2n, keynyehi rotsn (so be it), omeyn saying remained in Rashi's formulation (on Exodus 4tr9)' om khoshet (so be it forever), emes ztelatsiu uenokhn (absolutely true), bimheye kemes (the poor man is considered as dead). Another saying is current (speedily), baauol,nolsenu horabim (for our many sins) , (benlshn) in Rashi's formulation e1n khalolm bli duorim beteylim (no dream without. rynu (pronounce the benediction "He who grants favors to the un- irrelevant matter, on Genesis 37: ro) , whereas in the Talmud (Beraklnl' rving," said on escape from danger), borekh dayen emes ("Blessed be it is phrased somewhat differently: i efshar lahalom belo dettarin 55a) True said on being informed of someone's death), (gb)bn) betelim. Judge," The Language of the Way o[ the SHaS zzJ The Language of the WaY olthe SHaS (enough) hashiaeynu (pass away), pnimies (inwardness) , rukhnies (spirituality) , shirayim shlelme (to believe with perfect faith), dayeyrz beemune ' mnants of the rebbe's food), and so on. (change of mind), uao lelsion go2eL (concluli:"), A;, u.e2nendi,ke (and\'{J:i: The channels through which Cabala language material reached the *..piig days, the months of Elul and Tishri)' ueal kulom khad-gad1e (jail) khal ivider public have yet to be studied. Hakl tolul bemazl uaafle sEfer lo2re all1, liurokhe (of blessed me mory), aiihroye ' (all depends on fate, even a scroll of the Torah in the syna- p.ol"rt), hadin (jtdgment day), 2oltsres (types of pr luuirr 2om t"tloilL: ue) is in the,(ohar (Naso t34a), and probably this is not the only ipruyn fJr the deadj, Tomim.nuoim, )*tu !tl:,ftqn in need) ng that can be traced to that source. But in what scholarly circles *ir,rr'iiir;ri 1u.*.aing toJ-ewish law'1, kol dikhfn (evervone the better) koL the study of the /ohar so popular that from them a sentence in that harel mrrhibrkh (the more one does' ,zma kol hamarbe ze ' could have been disseminated throughout the entire Yiddish- bekirbi (so long as I am alive)' keont bapesaki (humble shehanshomo ing community? keafre deare (worthless), kkharim toltaim.uleshoLem (13.life ^"9,:: ry.1:,: Mention should also be made of the Hebrew philosophical books, a (what are we and what is our life) ma nishtane (w i oru kha2eltnu ' is also found in ^i ^, (tully ready) mi-shebeyrekh. reflection of which, through maskilic Hebrew, is the difference?), mukhn umzumen , .(s.h of Av' which ddish (4.e5. z). criticism), di naltn leg (the first nine days in the month ('n'.. ir 3.8.5 One more source of the language of the Way of the SHaS must days of #-i-ou.r,in g), aL khet (confession)' aseres 2time1, simple)'':^',' sfteor mentioned : the technical language of the teacher. Here are examples: Juys of repentance), sheeyne ydelta Ltshel (utterly (cringe) 6e (on the contrary, by all means), ipkhe mistaure (quite the contrary), (*i.."lluny) , shma Tisroel (help !), (shprtngen) kod.esh ' :- ma (but), imke2n (if so), amer (then), antkegn (in connection with), ''^il;;;;i tr,. .Juay .r,uilutiiity oi this domain of concepts, its lexical usage to a very high deg^ree' uos iz dos gekumen tsu reld? (How did we come to talk about it?), ite ms were apt to be drawn into metaphoric klor ui a in ashre 'fu (deduce), apshite (alI the more), bedieaed (in retrospect), bekhen In e2n shma )irrorl 'in one moment' ; ld ^runs that one i ore), bemeyle (of necessity), befeyresh (explicit) , brengen (cite), .o.,-u..runt'l altnkolfn zikh mafter 'to make a commitment The place ol tshlolme (granted), dehalne (namely), dingen zikh (discuss), harb (if, con- mediately ..g..,r;l shtog, aikh al khet'strongly repent'' tion), haae-miza (I would assume), halne (namely), haye-hakh (the pray"er book is so well known tlu' tt1t each prayer in the 1, sheomar::-n:i:l (frr thing), ha2nt (ha1nt, o1b iil a41, to . . . fnow if it be so, how . . . ]), based on it : he began lrom ma to)au or fro.rr borekh can be uikuekh (debate), khilek (toward the end) tt! o"lnu-, r (matters), hayilokhn? (is it possible?), the beginning) ; to be bay nik 1 Ttitt9. ','''; In re citi ifference), taykhn (oytaytshn, fartaltlsh [explain]), klolmer (so to say), ;;" ;"tend) ; it is nokh ate ha2ems' (after arl)' ;;:;;;;;i;i the hile (initially),lema2 (how come?) , Ieollem (actually), makhn (makht tn"-p.uy.. aa]o)mer douid the eyes are.::"t.t:d with t*-T::}r: ua)o)mer iIto say, Rashi says]), mikolshkn (all the more so), monefshekh (either boys therefoie called skating downhill with- closed eyes oltp h' o',0-d l:: ), mime2le (as a matter of course) , mamesh (literally), naJkemine (dif- gi;L, n skatingt' Folksongs'.u.th. u' @oy1*er-douid !1 ot ference), suglte (toptc), smikhes-haparshe (connection), al-akhes-kame- i"l^iiit, (o-un eugle ,oais under the skies) are sung to the tune (our Father; vekame (all the more so), alkeln (hence), piLpl (srfitle argumentation), the folksong ouinu melLekh, dos harts ia mir fre/ekh akdomis; pshetLen of ouinu maLkeyu (rl ila (all the more), pshat (literal meaning), aikfr (quibble), the King, my heart iejoices) begins in the manner "our (foolish question), kalaekholmer (a fortiori argument), terets prayer, Father, our Kingl; songs called iP "ld :lt l1:.:it t), and so forth. nu^.) religious are saturated with elements from the prayers' t.tt.. , There are various designations for various types of scholars. The Of ih. l.-rr.. sources feeding the language. Wit:f 3.8.4 "t llt ] frequent are boke (adept) and kharef (keen). A sina2 is roughly mention can be made of the area of cabala with such lexica sfiaS,' ical he grasps the as it was given on Mt. Sinai; of word s) gilgL (transfo^rmation) with a boke; Torah e Ie ments as be.qimalrlte (numerical value ' oyker-horim (mountain mover) moves heaven and earth with his (ghost p.-orr.rri.tg a man's body) , lamed-uou (the Thirty-Six.Ri dibek istry and acumen. ,ouq)"rinr-oihre (rhe devil), tsiner (charrnel), kLipe (husk)' kftses-had' shem-hamfoyesh All four of these terms are in the Talmud, and how could it be other- miraculous shortening of a journey)' .(t 1rfro.i..rt, separable' ? The system of study goes back in an uninterrupted chain to the ineffable Name), and so on' Close to it, and not always ishna; hence the school terminology in its predominant part came the area of Ha;sidism: bkhine (category) , bitt-haltesh (self-effacement the oldest strata of the Loshn- koydesh determinant (which, let us gorh-ir, (materiality) , dvelkes to God)' 'hirpollu 1:]t1"i"g (conscience'"!:!:^,!:l\:,':, risk)' ni , includes Hebrew and Targumic; z.B.r). But also in this respect ienthusiasm) , khedae (bliss) , 2andes 224 The Language of the Way ol the SHaS The Language o[ the Way of the SHaS 225 the Way of the SHaS did not remain stationary. In cases such as (he is a scholar) is unintelligible for the speaker of German who (Hebrew tomar lyou may say]) or mekheteltse (whence do you comei no Yiddish. Yiddish deviated considerably both from the original pronunciati l'The language of the scholar was a fusion of linguistic material from and the original meaning, and even the orthography is someti sources of tradition, in addition to his own professional language. different. Frequently the student uses the original expression of t the scholars the language radiated to considerably wider circles Gemara along with a Yiddish translation (not necessarily word society, which may be designated vaguely as talmidel khakhomim and word;8.9.e) : Tonu rabonen (the sages have thought); Lemo hadouer 7lln (disciples of the wise, prominent Jews), that is, the learned (what is this comparable to?) ; ma1 ko mashme Lon (what is this tell cultured (3.to) , who in turn transmitted it to an ever wider public. us?); te2ku (the question remains) ; bame duorim amurim (when is thi ln order to use the words tomer (perhaps) or monefshekh (either or) or applicable ?) .ln madekh and in ele uos (den) ? or eLe uo'den? (what thenr (tolerable) , in order to ask with a sarcastic hint: aii

language of the Way of the SHaS in expressing the relations bet lesson with something humorous; the baekhn (entertainer) as we know man and man, man and the world, even between man and God. in Ashkenaz is apparently a product of Ashkenaz, but the function field is vast, and this is not the place to enter into psychological spec merrymaking is much older. tions connected with a distinction among humor, comedy, Clearly, in the life system of the Way of the SHaS, the associations witticism, jest, joke, fun, irony, satire, and so on. In another language humor must also come from concepts at hand. 'The supply definitions of such terms are very important; but let us agree that greater than the demand' can be rendered in the language of the Way ' term language humor stands here as the overall name for all lingu the SHaS ; Mer shokhtim ui hiner (more ritual slaughterers than stimuli of smiles, Iaughter, and ridicule. ickens). An incongruous pairing (for example, when there is too great 3.rr At first it could seem that since the Way of the SHaS deals difference in size between husband and wife) is described as esreg sanctity even in mundane things (3.5.2), a humorous consideration (citron) un luleu (and palm branch), or shabes hagodl (the great Sabbath) the values of the Way of the SHaS could have penetrated Ashk '1tn kurts-fra2tik (and the shortest Friday in the year). Something can be only after the beginning of seculartzation. But this is not so. io small that it looks llke tal-umoter in a kleln siderl (dew and rain in a small humor-affected linguistic units stem from pre-Emancipation times; yer book;prayer books contain a reminder that in the winter season lact is incontestable, as will be shown shortly, and, therefore, only words tal-umoter ldew and rain] are to be substituted; these words explanation of it can be essayed. One explanation is the inclusiv generally in smaller print even in standard size prayer books) ; a of the Way of the SHaS. The tensions within the traditional commu badly misspelled is noltekh mit /bn gra1ln (the name Noah, consisting created contesting parties, and the other's behavior, the other's man Hebrew of two letters, written with seven orthographic mistakes). was viewed as legitimately subject to ridicule. Moreover, even t thing that cannot persevere will last from esler-lones bil purim (from illustrious scholar cannot be immersed in his studies twenty-four Fast of Esther, on the day before Purim, till Purim). A man no a day; a ray of laughter and a smile must pervade his world too, a fit for anything is an opgeshlogene hesha2ne (a beaten willow twig, since he is surrounded by elements of holiness, these must become in the Sukkoth services). Someone that has drunk excessively can object of his humor. (Compare the psychological penetration of t ve in kepl mer ui infeshl (more in the head than in the bottle) or he can proverb: a gandq kholemtfun hober la goose dreams of oats].) Had t farshnoshket (tipsy) or untern glell (in his cups), but he can also be culture of the community prohibited laughter, the irrepressible (by His commandments) or begilufn, and in describing a to laughter have been inhibited and its linguistic manifestati uation of drunkenness we may r to lea b would esort kelo)u hameylekh ay1,in (when il would have remained beyond the threshold, as for instance in the heart of the king was merry with wine) . A man in advanced age died of obscenity. But the nontotalitarian character of the Way of the he had ibergegesn mit afkolmens (eaten too many afkolmsns-111s permitted one view and also another view; hence language hu Itpiece of eaten at the Passover meal) . "The least of the evils" became a legitimate part of the language. di beste fun di eser makes (the best of the ten plagues). One that always Thus every group in the community, every member of the to everything is an ome)n-

DaTn mall, got, aos du uolnst alo1t ho1kh, anit uolt men dir ale sho2bn nd in the complaints of the yeshiva students about their tag (days) : (Lucky for you, God, that you dwell so high, otherwise all your wind jne is fed only kashes (porridge, but may also mean 'questions') ; the would be smashed!) was not considered a heretic, although his outc is even worse off since the women of the house always give him a did sound like heresy. It was understood and glossed over. TheJew (an excuse). Kayn i7 nit heal (the question of a livelihood must not have possibly become frightened by his own words and have minimized) is constructed on a double pun; kalten (chewine) is similar penance, but both penance and protest found accommodation in t in sound to the Yiddish pronunciation of Cain, and heul (Abel) also amplitude of the Way of the SHaS. means 'vanity'.In heul both words are bound up with a Loshn-koydesh 3.13 Yiddish sometimes uses mechanisms for achieving a hu t, but in kalen two different components are represented. effect that only the Way of the SHaS could have provided. In the imilarly with the phrase aaltzn demferdl a he1 in sider (show the horse a ie of the acronym YaKNeHoZ Q.t) we have initials introduced into the fifth letter] in the prayer book) , the name of the letter of the alphabet language as words. More frequently use is made of the technique from the Loshn-koydesh component, the name of the food (hay) that nutrikn, where a "real" word is interpreted as the initials of several the horse expects is from the German component. This free operation (for instance, how do we know that a cantor is a fool?-because KHaf h the entire vocabulary of the language is characteristic of the run- [cantor] is an acronym of KHazonim Zenen Naronim [cantors mill Jews, who cannot readily distinguish between the Loshn- fools]). Very popular are pseudoexplications of a sentence or and the other determinants. The eminent scholar R. Avzele frequently introduced by makht Rashi (Rashi says), and Haman if was once asked why an ignorant person is called grober ltung says Rashi tshort yuo prin2os (Russian: the devil brought him). lly, thick chap), to which he replied: uayl er ueltst nit kay din words in the Book of Esther are purportedly commented on by Rashi because he does not know dinllaw, but also thin]). In sum, the puns of and in Russian. Way of the SHaS take their material wherever available, without Other mechanisms, as can be seen from the numerous illustrat d for the etymology of the words. scattered throughout this chapter, are not necessarily character I But the punster has at hand not only the various components of of the Way of the SHaS. But we must be interested in how they iddish. One element of the pun, and at times both, can be Loshn- utilized in this culture system, how it orders the linguistic material. per se , for in the culture system of the Way of the SHaS from Most conspicuous is rhyme: der mentsh trakht un got lakht (man very beginning Ashkenaz has a second internal language, Loshn- and God laughs) or fun al-khe I uerl men nit fet (from the recitation of al sh (4.r ff.). The Loshn-koydesh words and sentences are not Ithe confessional] one does not gain weight; 8.ro). igible to the same degree to every member of the community. To Paronomasia is based on the juxtaposition of homonyms or n typical ignoramus, who can only read a little iare (elementary The Language of the Way of the SHaS 239 238 The Language of the Way of the SHaS Hebrew) , but who does not understand it, the following reasoning [says] : he pays" (Baba Kama 3gb). Akhrey mos kdoyshim emor is not even h sentence or near-sentence in Loshn-koydesh, but four separate ascribed : O1,b baagole i2 a uogn, iz bizman koriu a shLitn (if baagole is a wagonl words, the names four consecutive weekly lections which then bizman koriu is a sled) ; agole (wagon) he knew from the Yiddis of in the Torah, coincidentally mean: death were] the talmudic word baagole (speedily) was unknown to him. Es aend! 'After say [about them, that they holy'-an analogy to the well-known Latin aphorism de mortuis nil nisi

Jewishness exist in the speaker's or hearer's consciousness. possibly in a mild form, and possibly not at all;possibly in the consciousness of the speak the hearer, and rate, nitially has in it tions, h a moral even i khale too many slices minimum lor all. This type of neutralization, as stated, could be possible all the way was that along with rorah Maskilim, nationalists, Jews, and sociarists up to the rise of the secular sector-because the Way of the SHaS was 244 The Language of the Way of the SHaS The Language of the Way of the SHaS 245 not only a religious way but a life system (3.5). Something new the bank-kuelshers (the bookworms), or the "bent backs', (krume rukns) been added with the appearance ofthe secular sector: instead of palronen (wards) who uos esn leg un shlingen trern (eat days and swallow tralization under given circumstances, in given contexts, a ,tears) who can only drelten mitn grobnfnger ( twist their thumbs in talmudic neutraliry can be found in part of the community. To the average disputes) , but who cannot think logically. In the case of the word batlen of the secular sector, unless he is interested in the history of lang the meaning has turned over one hundred and eighty degrees. The ,,A even afle (even), efsher (perhaps), guJe (in person), nishkoshe ( ishna (Megillah r.3) asks : "Whar is a city?" and replies : place that stam (ordinary) , kashe (question), and so on are ordinary Yiddish ten men of leisure (batlanim); below that number it is a village." he has to be told that they derive from the language of study (3.8. These ten men are unemployed, devote their time to study, and the An aue2re di tsa2t (it is a sin to spend the time on); a mitsue o2f in (itrs Community maintains them so that they can be in the synagogue during good deed that it happened to him) ; host dos kosher fardint (you es. A similar custom exists in the case of Hassidim in the rebbe's court, deserved it by right) ; freg mikh bekhe2rem (ask me under oath) are as novices can note in Peretz's (batlanim) ; Goldene keyt (Golden the modern Jew simply neutral Yiddish idioms that stir no religi Chain). But today batlen means 'an impractical person, ignorant of the associations, and we can readily conceive of a Yiddish speaker who ways of the world, a nobody'. never seen the ceremony of kapores and who cannot describe it; The aversion to former conditions led to the casting of aspersions on theless he may say that he needs a certain thing o2f kapores (for nothi traditional words even where they were seemingly handy. One hated Moreover, expressions initially specifically associated withJewish koolishe asifes (communal meetings), the kheures (associations) with their could become associated in parts of the secular sector with c gaboim (trustees); gaboes (trusteeship) became a derogatory term and a distinctly non-Jewish. Yontef was initially aJewish holiday (in a universe of discourse was created with dntlekhe farlamlungen (open ings) and where holidays are either Jewish or Christian, a distinction is lr elnen (societies) and far u a I tungen ( ad ministrations) and tsulamenforn between yntef and khoge lnon-Jewish holidayl; S.S.S) . A shtikl khale t, (conventions) . The old-fashioned were ridiculed: A Tidns ba1 imagantserlontef (aslice of khaleisareal 2onty'forhim) maybe i4 a4 er kumt lsu borkhe (the luck of a Jew is when he arrives [in the agogue] at Borkhe, that is, roughly linguistic product of the traditional sphere, and even 2ontd as a in the middle of the prayers) ; mism for 'menstruation' may be old, but entirely unrelated to 'ajdish geuins i7 der go2rl tsu kadish (aJewish prize is the winning ticket Emancipation. But later the Fourth ofJuly became theyntdof A for fthe recitation of the prayer for the dead]) ; aTidisher taneg ,1i can independence, the First of May the international Tontd ol i< a kiter lishebou (a Jewish pleasure is a cool tishebou [fast day in mid- summer]). il proletariat. Mesires-nefesh (self-sacrifice) was associated in the Jewi These witticisms that had formerly been apropos in given individual tradition only with Jewishness, but now people can manifest masl instances were now turned against the entire old mode of nefesh for various ideals. We know that for ideals one has to "make '. uu toyre dort iz krokhml (where there is Torah there is starch; 3.r3.r) sacrifice" (brengen a korbn) and we know of heroes who sacrificed ame with the moderns a taunt at all TorahJudaism: Alas, what lives on the miabeykh (altar) of freedom. The Yiddish workers' Iiterat ind of wisdom can it possess? ! of around rgoo speaks not only ol the martirer (martyrs) but also of , The protesting, struggling minority is always more aggressive, but kdoyhim (saints) of the Commune (4.25.r.r). ither has the arracked majority remained silent. Temperately, the The oneness of the Way of the SHaS, the lact that even the o people ol the new manner have been referred to as na)moJdishe (new tionists were included within it, is demonstrated in the fact that ryinsterish), a parody on naltmodishe (of the new fashion); fray (the linguistic symbolism of the Hasmoneans and Bar-Kochba can be link ); olfgeklerte (the enlightened); hayntueltike (the moderns) ; gebulbete in Yiddish with Lekert, with the uprisings in the ghettos in World W toed"), a parody on gebildete (educated). They go in for kentenishn II, with the struggle for the State of Israel. Language can povr ledge), that is, secular studies, it was said, for as soon as one wine into old vessels. But this possibility is already the result of a mes lree (uerlJraT), one departs from the pious way. One also used solidation process.Just as the coexistence of Hassidism and Mitnagdi the term niskhamers aern or khometsdik uern (turn sour) , and the transgres- under one roof had initially been regarded as impossible (3.9.r), wcre labeled not merely as lrEfniakes (consumers of nonkosher the first spokesmen of the secular sector saw mainly that which divi ) or kolbasniker (consumers of nonkosher sausages), but they were them from the community at large. They identified tradition with charged with eating khe/eu mit tshuekes (tallow with nails) jusr ro narrow-mindedness of the khakhmey lelhanke (sages of the stove bench te God 2+6 The Language of the Way of the SHaS 4 But the Ashkenazic community in eastern Europe emerged streng: Internal Jewish Bilingualism thened even from these bitter fights, with whichJewish culture hi in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is replete, and the Yiddi Ianguage came out enriched. We have already mentioned the fact that people of the secular sector use, at times against their will, the idioms of the Way-of-the-SHaS tradition. In analyzing New Yiddish the reverse process can also be seen: how the traditional sector was influenced- also at times against its will-by the linguistic innovations coined by the secular sector, not merely in vocabulary, but also in grammar Ashkenazic Jews (just like other Jewish communities since the syntax. The Yiddish standard language of the nineteenth and twentieth iaspora) have always been a minority in a non-Jewish milieu;hence ,they centuries has synthesized the various Yiddish sociolects. always had to be bilingual; most members of the Jewish com- unity had 16 ftneyy-5sme more, some less-besides their 'language, Jewish the language of the coterritorial ma.jority (3.2). In those ;ferritories where the non-Jewish population itself was divided linguis- r'tically, Yiddish speakers had to know, to some extent, more than one hon-Jewish language; for example, French and German in Alsace, Ozech and German in Bohemia, Polish and Ukrainian in the Lvov istrict. Such a situation it is well to call external bilingualism (or multilingualism) . It placed the Yiddish speaker in a specific socio- 'psychological position and also directly affected his Ianguage: its Slavic component, for instance, Yiddish owes to its vicinage with Slavic peo- ples. We certainly will not minimize this external bilingualism, either ril in its purely linguistic or in its sociopsychological aspecrs. Here we il Can find a direct relationship with the study of languages in contact, rlr ivhich is now a recognized field of the language sciences. The subject of this chapter, however, is bilingualism within theJewish community, that is, the symbiosis of Yiddish and Loshn-koydesh throughout the entire history of Ashkenaz and the position of each of these languages in the cultural system of Ashkenazic Jewry. :' On the basis of the analysis in previous chapters (mainly 2.5-2.8.r) we can tentatively divide the history of the Hebrew language into the following periods: (r) up to the Babylonian Exile (-SBZ n.c.n.), when I{ebrew was the only language of the Jewish people; (z) from the return from Babylonia to the beginning of the predominance of Tar- gumic as the vernacular in Palestine (f 5oo-eoo B.c.E.); (3) from the minance of Targumic to the complete decline of Hebrew as a language in Palestine (zoo a.c.r,.-3oo c.n.) ; (4) Hebrew since dominance of Targumic as a vernacular till Sepharad and Loter ); (5) the traditional Hebrew or Loshn-koydesh (8oo-r75o), ith its two main versions: Sephardic and Ashkenazic (about the de- t in Ashkenaz itself; 4.25). As lar as time and importance concerned, Ashkenaz is mainly bound up with (5), and in order